Black Mountain

About

The artist

Black Mountain is a psychedelic rock band formed in Vancouver in 2004 around guitarist and singer Stephen McBean. Emerging from the orbit of Jerk with a Bomb, the group introduced its combination of heavy guitar riffs, folk restraint, analog synthesizers, and long-form progressive arrangements on a self-titled album in 2005. In the Future followed in 2008 and earned international attention for songs that moved freely between hard rock force and spacious psychedelia. Wilderness Heart arrived in 2010, followed by the surf-film soundtrack Year Zero, IV in 2016, and Destroyer in 2019. Across multiple lineup changes, McBean remained the central songwriter while musicians including Amber Webber, Jeremy Schmidt, Joshua Wells, and Matt Camirand shaped different phases of the band. Black Mountain's records have appeared primarily through Jagjaguwar, and its live history spans clubs, theatres, and festivals across North America and Europe. A twentieth-anniversary edition of the debut and the archival Oscillated Pasts: Volume One extended the catalog, while the single True Love, Don't Be Afraid and 2026 performances with McBean and Webber confirmed renewed activity. Current official Bandcamp and DSP pages continue to identify Black Mountain with Vancouver. The band's work treats the sounds of early metal, acid rock, folk, and kosmische music as material for new, widescreen compositions rather than simple revivalism.