Pink Mountaintops

If Black Mountain represents the darker side of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Stephen McBean's musical thinking, Pink Mountaintops is a vehicle for his brighter and more engaging ideas. While both bands share McBean's fondness for trippy, psych-infused sounds, Pink Mountaintops avoid the doom-inspired tone of Black Mountain to make room for a wider range of musical influences, matched to lyrics that playfully deal with his various obsessions, from favorite musicians to the edges of teen culture. McBean and his collaborators merged lo-fi production and arrangements with dashes of lysergic Americana on their 2004 self-titled debut and 2006's Axis of Evol. 2014's Get Back filtered McBean's melodic ideas through muscular rock guitars, and 2022's Peacock Pools made room for folk, pop, vintage electronics, and classic rock overtones.