Pink Mountaintops - Peacock Pools
Pink Mountaintops
Peacock Pools
By: Robert Hill
Where Peacock Pools truly shines is in its ability to give the listener whiplash.
The latest full-length collection from the mind of Vancouver, BC-born, alternative music stalwart Stephen McBean is Peacock Pools. Released on ATO Records (Amyl & The Sniffers, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Lee Ann Womack), Peacock Pools takes listeners on a trip into McBean’s artistic center as it wends its way through his decades of musical experience.
Beginning in BC’s punk scene of the early 80s, McBean first spent time grinding through the provinces in a hardcore punk band, Jerk Ward. The Ward then morphed into crossover/thrash outfit Mission of Christ before McBean, and other core members started short-lived grunge rock group, Onionhouse. The early 90s saw McBean’s move to Vancouver and the birth of Gus, a group he found early success with, touring North America and releasing a string of 7-inch records.
Around the turn of the century, McBean spent time in Ex-dead Teenager and Jerk with a Bomb, releasing three full-length albums. And he continues working well into the present-day with groups Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops.
Each of these bands has contributed to the development of McBean’s expert expression of craft we hear on his latest release. And each of these bands has donated something to his next musical permutation.
The album opens with a reverb-soaked, shuffling cover of Black Flag’s amped-up punk party starter, “Nervous Breakdown,” a fitting choice for this pseudo-supergroup featuring the talents of hardcore alumni Jeff MacDonald (Redd Kross) and Dale Crover (Melvins).
Peacock Pools sparkles in the wan, sub-orbital sunshine of tracks like “Blazing Eye” and “You Still Around.”
It takes a shambolic walk through late capitalism Manchester and vintage electronica on deeper cuts, like “Shake The Dust” and “Muscles,” respectively.
But like label mates, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s latest release, Omnium Gatherum, where Pools truly shines is in its ability to give the listener whiplash, like the way “All This Death is Killing Me,” a two-minute churner reminiscent of Bad Brains circa ’81, gives way to the mellow remorse of “The Walk – Song for Amy.”
The diversity of McBean’s output is as impressive as it is surprising, swapping out tenderness for pensive anxiety seemingly at whim.
You can’t go wrong with Peacock Pools.
The singles – “Lights of The City,” “Nervous Breakdown,” and “Nikki Go Sudden, chronologically – are well-chosen, and the remainder of the album feels like a welcome trip through an eminently experienced psychonaut’s creative home.
A thread of nostalgia runs through each song on the record - giving the listener a sense of timelessness that only a craftsperson and artist like McBean can accomplish.
