In the Future

Personnel: Stephen McBean (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Amber Webber (vocals, percussion); Joshua Wells (piano, Mellotron, drums, percussion); Jeremy Schmidt (organ, Mellotron, synthesizer); Ryan Peters, Sean Hawryluk (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Dave Sardy; John Congleton.
Recording information: Argyle Hotel; Sunset sound; The Factory; The Hive, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
After the surprise success of Black Mountain's self-titled debut and their equally surprising tour with Coldplay, the media focused attention solely on band founder and riff-o-matic guitar god Stephen McBean. With IN THE FUTURE, their seismic follow-up, the Vancouver quintet casts aside McBean's lone genius act with an emphatic statement: Black Mountain is a band.
Singer Amber Webber's haunting vibrato is as much a presence on IN THE FUTURE as McBean's anguished husk, and dominates on the beautiful closing track, "Night Walks"; bassist Matt Camirand and drummer Joshua Wells keep the tempos patient but insistently heavy; and Jeremy Schmidt's sinewy Moog and Hammond lines recall Hawkwind and Deep Purple in equal measure, and are thankfully placed high in the mix. The group dynamic bolsters McBean's ever-incendiary riffs and deepens the Sabbath-meets-VU promise of their debut. IN THE FUTURE features the stunning "Bright Lights," an album-side length statement of purpose. Space-trucking nation, unite!