Pink Mountaintops, the exploratory and enigmatic project of Black Mountain frontman Stephen McBean, make their triumphant return after eight years with the announcement of their new album “Peacock Pools”, that will see release on May 6th, 2022 via their new label home ATO Records.
They usher in this new era proudly with the rollicking, ‘70s-invoking sonic blast that is new track “Lights Of The City”. They have also shared the track’s accompanying video, directed by George Mays.
Speaking on the new video, Stephen McBean says: “Lincoln Heights hilltop sunrise riff’n’bang sparks spree of vengeance by disgruntled ex-bass player turned cyborg tinkertronic handsome man, Ken The Walnut. Obsessed with Pink Mountaintops demise The Walnut’s sinister plot almost succeeds in a Don McClean sized wave of rock’n’roll destruction. Thankfully, Emily Rose’s Phantom of The Park summoned superpowers save the band group combo and with some collective post-dress rehearsal concert magic the former low frequency fiend is defeated. Let the rock prevail!”
Pre-orders are available now and include limited-edition gold vinyl, indie exclusive splatter vinyl, CD, and digital. Pre-order here: https://smarturl.it/Peacock_Pools
Pink Mountaintops are currently on the road supporting Dinosaur Jr in the US. All dates are listed below. Announcements of a headline tour are forthcoming.
TOUR DATES:
Supporting Dinosaur Jr,
2/15 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
2/16 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
2/17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
2/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
2/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
2/22 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
2/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
2/25 – Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theater
2/26 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Since their 2004 self-titled debut, Pink Mountaintops have supplied an outlet for the more arcane fascinations of Black Mountain frontman Stephen McBean. On “Peacock Pools” — Pink Mountaintops’ first new music in eight years—the British Columbia-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist shares 12 songs sparked from his magpie-like curiosity for a wild expanse of cultural artifacts: the sci-fi body horror of David Cronenberg, Disney Read-Along Records from the 1970s, early Pink Floyd and mid-career Gary Numan, John Carpenter movies, Ornette Coleman live videos, a 1991 essay on the cult of bodybuilding by postmodern feminist Camille Paglia. Featuring counterculture icons like Steven McDonald of Redd Kross and Dale Crover of Melvins, Peacock Pools alchemizes those obsessions into a body of work with its own enchanting power, the sonic equivalent of falling down a thousand rabbit holes at once and landing somewhere gloriously strange.
Pink Mountaintops’ fifth full-length and debut release for ATO Records, “Peacock Pools” took shape from a batch of songs McBean first pieced together in the early days of the pandemic. “I’d moved into this cool little ’50s rancher house outside L.A. and was just mucking about in my bedroom studio, and pretty soon I started reaching out to some friends who were also shacked up and craving broadband sonic collaboration,” he recalls. Over the coming months, McBean began working remotely with a stacked lineup of musicians from the indie-rock and psych-pop and garage-punk worlds, including drummer/pianist Joshua Wells (Destroyer, Black Mountain), violinist/vocalist Laena Myers-Ionita (Feels, Death Valley Girls), drummer Ryan Jewell (Riley Walker, Steve Gunn), vocalist Emily Rose Epstein (Ty Segall, Emily Rose & The Rounders), and keyboardist Jeremy Schmidt (Black Mountain, Sinoia Caves). Produced by McBean and mixed in Vancouver by former Skinny Puppy member Dave “Rave” Ogilvie (David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails), Peacock Pools also features several songs recorded live in L.A. with McDonald and Crover, ultimately forming Pink Mountaintops most eclectic and magnificently unpredictable album to date..
“Peacock Pools” track listing:
1. Nervous Breakdown
2. Nikki Go Sudden
3. Blazing Eye
4. You Still Around
5. Shake The Dust
6. Swollen Maps
7. Lights Of The City
8. Miss Sundown
9. Lady Inverted Cross
10 . Muscles
11. All This Death Is Killing Me
12. The Walk – Song For Amy