If Black Mountain represents the darker side of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Stephen McBean's musical thinking, Pink Mountaintops is a vehicle for his brighter and more engaging ideas. While both bands share McBean's fondness for trippy, psych-infused sounds, Pink Mountaintops avoid the doom-inspired tone of Black Mountain to make room for a wider range of musical influences, matched to lyrics that playfully deal with his various obsessions, from favorite musicians to the edges of teen culture. McBean and his collaborators merged lo-fi production and arrangements with dashes of lysergic Americana on their 2004 self-titled debut and 2006's Axis of Evol. 2014's Get Back filtered McBean's melodic ideas through muscular rock guitars, and 2022's Peacock Pools made room for folk, pop, vintage electronics, and classic rock overtones.

Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Pink Mountaintops is the brainchild of Stephen McBean, who is also the singer/songwriter/guitarist for Black Mountain. The latter was formerly known as Jerk with a Bomb, while McBean's solo project was also known by another name, One Easy Skag. He began playing with Jerk with a Bomb in the late '90s, and the band issued three albums and a 7" under that name. By late 2003, both Jerk with a Bomb and One Easy Skag were rechristened with their mountainous names, and in the summer of 2004, the Pink Mountaintops' self-titled debut album arrived. The album became one of 2005's most prominent indie rock releases, and McBean brought Pink Mountaintops back the following year with Axis of Evol. Releasing Black Mountain's In the Future kept McBean occupied though 2008, but the following year Pink Mountaintops returned with the well-reviewed Outside Love, which ran the gamut from country-influenced melodies to howling feedback.

Two more Black Mountain LPs arrived (2010's Wilderness Heart and 2012's Year Zero: The Original Soundtrack) before McBean shifted to his other project for Pink Mountaintops' fourth studio album, Get Back, which appeared in early 2014. The set included contributions from Dead Meadow bassist Steve Kille, Brian Jonestown Massacre drummer Dan Allaire, and Gregg Foreman, formerly of the Delta 72. Once again, McBean put Pink Mountaintops on the back burner as he completed a pair of Black Mountain albums, 2016's IV and 2019's Destroyer. In 2020, McBean moved into a ranch house in Arcadia, California, and converted one of the bedrooms into a home recording studio. When the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled his touring plans, McBean began working on new material at home, and elicited contributions from friends and colleagues who were also left with time on their hands. The home-brewed sessions evolved into a Pink Mountaintops album, 2022's Peacock Pools, a diverse collection embracing rock, folk, electronics, and metal, which included guest spots from Steven McDonald of Redd Kross and Dale Crover of the Melvins. Dave Rave Ogilvie of Skinny Puppy mixed the album. ~ Heather Phares & Mark Deming, Rovi