Compared to the heavy hash-oil sludge of Stephen McBean’s other band
(Black Mountain), Pink Mountaintops make trippy music that contains
more flower power and LSD. Outside Love is more diverse than its
predecessor—stretching beyond guitar and drum riffs to include
strings and things brimming with a Jesus and Mary Chain wall of sound.
This duality is a perfect soundscape for these songs, which portray
undying love interwoven with resentment, death and betrayal: “Rotten
fingers hold my hand/promise me that in the end/we will find true love
again” (from “Execution.”) Never has love and life sounded so
imperfectly appealing.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2009.