Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love (Jagjaguwar)
4/5
By: Matt Cole
BUY DOWNLOADA distinct departure yet kindred spirit to Stephen McBean's work with Heavy Psychedelic Rock outfit Black Mountains, his latest Pink Mountaintops album Outside Love is apparently influenced by the melodrama of an airport romance novel.
If that's the case I'm going to have to start reading more Mills & Boon, because that sh*t obviously comes from some deep, dark pit of despair and longing rather than the chintzy lace adorned subconscious of the Terry's Chocolate Orange guzzling, Laura Ashley obsessive I assumed was responsible all these years.
As with a number of the recent champions of broken-hearted torch-songs (eg Glasvegas) there's a heavy Phil Spector vibe going on. However Pink Mountaintops obviously saw the true, dark potential of the mad as a sack of rats producer, because these love songs are gritty, sweaty, dark and desperate yet dripping with a romance that is verging on the obsessive.
Lyrically McBean channels various contemporaries from Nick Cave on 'Execution's gothic declarations of fidelity to the forsaken gospel of J Spaceman in 'While We Were Dreaming'. There's even a touch of the Gibb brothers in 'Axis: Thrones of Love's repeated refrain of "How deep is your love?"
Overall Outside Love does feel a little one-note with its relentless, yearning pursuit of redemption in the arms of a lover. However it's such a lush and absorbing note that I'm more than content to surrender to its intoxicating embrace.
Artists in this article: Pink Mountaintops
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