I have a feeling that Outside Love is going to be fairly overlooked, and that's a real shame because it might be one of my favorite releases so far this year. The album is simple and continues to re-use the same formula of psychedelic noise-washed folk, but each track is actually very rich and elegant, having a subtle uniqueness that emerges only after repeated listens. While McBean's more upbeat tracks like "Holiday" and "The Gayest Of Sunbeams" are all good and well, the true genius of the album lies in the slow downers with an interplay of male and female vocals "While You Were Dreaming," "And I Thank You," and "Closer To Heaven." All of these tracks have a gradual build-up, slowly adding layer upon layer until a magnificent amalgamation of sounds and textures is formed. Though the songs have simple melodies with decent lyrics, the backdrop of sound on each track is the dealbreaker for me. Because of the lazy ambience of each of the individual tracks, the album as a whole fits together beautifully and ends up immensely improving upon the group's former efforts.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Outside Love
Not having been a fan of 2006's Axis Of Evol, I was very reluctant to listen to the new release from Pink Mountaintops, a side project of Stephen McBean of the Black Mountain collective. After hearing a few free downloads of "Vampire" and "While You Were Dreaming," however, I was convinced that I should probably give the whole album a try, and I am so glad that I did.
I have a feeling that Outside Love is going to be fairly overlooked, and that's a real shame because it might be one of my favorite releases so far this year. The album is simple and continues to re-use the same formula of psychedelic noise-washed folk, but each track is actually very rich and elegant, having a subtle uniqueness that emerges only after repeated listens. While McBean's more upbeat tracks like "Holiday" and "The Gayest Of Sunbeams" are all good and well, the true genius of the album lies in the slow downers with an interplay of male and female vocals "While You Were Dreaming," "And I Thank You," and "Closer To Heaven." All of these tracks have a gradual build-up, slowly adding layer upon layer until a magnificent amalgamation of sounds and textures is formed. Though the songs have simple melodies with decent lyrics, the backdrop of sound on each track is the dealbreaker for me. Because of the lazy ambience of each of the individual tracks, the album as a whole fits together beautifully and ends up immensely improving upon the group's former efforts.
I have a feeling that Outside Love is going to be fairly overlooked, and that's a real shame because it might be one of my favorite releases so far this year. The album is simple and continues to re-use the same formula of psychedelic noise-washed folk, but each track is actually very rich and elegant, having a subtle uniqueness that emerges only after repeated listens. While McBean's more upbeat tracks like "Holiday" and "The Gayest Of Sunbeams" are all good and well, the true genius of the album lies in the slow downers with an interplay of male and female vocals "While You Were Dreaming," "And I Thank You," and "Closer To Heaven." All of these tracks have a gradual build-up, slowly adding layer upon layer until a magnificent amalgamation of sounds and textures is formed. Though the songs have simple melodies with decent lyrics, the backdrop of sound on each track is the dealbreaker for me. Because of the lazy ambience of each of the individual tracks, the album as a whole fits together beautifully and ends up immensely improving upon the group's former efforts.
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