| "No, I’m not heading down the highway to hell."
AC/DC may have forever associated that particular road with arena cock-rockery, but when Stephen McBean croaks out the opening lyrics of "Coma," it’s clear he’s dead serious. With its finger-picked backing and spacious atmosphere, "Coma" is a departure for McBean’s Pink Mountaintops – the decision to open the band’s sophomore album on such a sombre note feels like a conscious effort by McBean to rewrite expectations. Even though he has earned the respect of critics and fans alike through his work in the country-inflected Jerk With a Bomb and acid rockers Black Mountain, Pink Mountaintops never seemed to be taken as seriously.
Although Pink Mountaintops features many of the same touring band members as Black Mountain, McBean is the chief songwriter for both. Pink’s recordings are primarily McBean's creation. The project’s self-titled debut, which featured a few guest musicians, was fun and oddly engaging, but its oversexed sensibility made it feel a little frivolous. Axis of Evol, Pink’s latest album, features McBean and McBean alone. It’s a much more sophisticated release, an introspective mix of droning guitars, hazy vocals and spacious, atmospheric production. Fans of the first CD may be thrown off initially, but for McBean, the progression was natural.
"If I tried to do another of the same record it would just be kind of pointless," he says of this newfound seriousness. "The first one was so quick and easy, it just kind of came out and that’s what it was. I can’t really recreate that. Personally, I like to throw people off a bit anyways."
One new element that may surprise long-time listeners is the new album’s soulfulness. Where Pink Mountaintops’ first release was dominated by songs like "I (fuck) Mountains" and "Sweet ’69," McBean admits to modelling Evol’s lyrics after hymnals and consciously evoking Old Testament imagery. That highway to hell, along with crimson rivers and prayers for redemption, all figure prominently in the songwriting. The effect was intentional, but McBean is a little unsure of what provoked that influence.
"I didn’t find God or anything," he says. "I do believe in the little things – that you don’t die, that your spirit lives on. Whether it lives on through others, who knows, but not in a whole ‘heaven’ way. You’ve got to grasp on to something sometimes, no matter what it is."
While McBean’s own spirituality may not synch with what ended up on the record, he isn’t worried. In his mind, the lyrics are meant to serve the music and to help create the album’s atmosphere. Rather than labouring over images or messages, McBean believes it is important to let the songs speak for themselves.
"I try to trust my instincts and not get too self-conscious or worried about right and wrong or what people are going to think," he says, "or even whether it’s a good idea or a bad idea, because (with) a lot of stuff that I write, I like working with the whole idea of being on the border of really bad, kind of absurd," he says.
That lack of self-censorship adds a feeling of immediacy to Evol, but it also leaves McBean at risk of looking foolish. Many artists fret over the reactions of fans and critics alike. McBean admits that the prospect of people searching for meaning in his words is unnerving, but it’s also inevitable.
"That’s the weird thing about recording," he says. "You make it and it’s your little baby, and once it’s done it’s open to whoever to interpret, or hate or like or love or throw in the trash. It’s kind of a strange thing and you have no control. If someone puts it on, you can’t say you’ve got to listen to it in headphones. And that whole thing (of losing control) if people put it on their iPod on shuffle."
It’s easy to get the impression that McBean dislikes technology – his distaste for the shuffle feature is obvious when he brings it up. He doesn’t have an iPod – he only bought his first portable CD player last year and expects to hold off on the MP3 player for another decade or so. Even his recordings shun modern glossy recording techniques, favouring the warm distortion that comes from analog equipment. But McBean is quick to clarify that he does enjoy some aspects of technology.
"I think there are some cool things about the advancements of technology," he explains. "And I think the whole music sharing thing is one of them. People do know that when they post things it’s very immediate, and it’s slightly fascinating because when I started really getting into music, it was that whole thing of writing letters and sending your three dollars in a letter and two months later you would get a seven inch or a demo in the mail, which I think is more romantic in a way. But just being able to do something and put it up for people to listen to is pretty cool."
As much as he enjoys that immediacy, it seems likely McBean would go back to the more romantic ways if he had the chance. That sense is there in his music, in the attention to the small details that colour Evol and the organic, spontaneous feel of the album. Rather than get caught up in worries about critical reactions or fan expectations, McBean keeps the music at the forefront. It may not be leading him down the highway to hell, but it’s sure to keep him in the spotlight. |
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