Pink Mountaintops find a semblance of solace in the unknowable on fuzzed out "Paranoia"

From the titillating name to the one-track lyrical fixations that pervade the band’s body of work, Stephen McBean’s Pink Mountaintops have long existed as the juvenile inverse to sister band Black Mountain’s epic expressions of monumental grandeur. Recent releases have witnessed the line of demarcation between the two begin to soften, as more playfully carnal elements seeped their way into Black Mountain’s DNA and a more mature approach to looking back wistfully on reckless salad days has elevated Pink Mountaintops beyond simple hormonal skate park shenanigans.
“Paranoia” continues this harmonious intertwining while actively preserving the vibrant, youthful streak that defines Pink Mountaintops’ approach to composition and expression within layers of measured nuance. Possessed of a rollicking forward momentum, McBean unleashes a psychedelic fuzz bomb imbued with the radiant heat and chemical undertones of fresh blacktop baking in the midday Los Angeles incandescence. Rubbery basslines bump shoulders with motorik percussion and lo-fi riffs shot through with high-voltage insistence crackle furiously, igniting sunny melodies that resurface like warm memories across the analog lens of the immediate present. There’s a palpable sense of blissful exuberance that pervades the track, a sort of surrendering to the uncontrollable uncertainty of modern existence and finding a semblance of contentment in the release of pent up, nervous energy as a means of self preservation.
Stream “Paranoia” on Spotify and follow Pink Mountaintops on Instagram.