Wilderness Heart finds Black Mountain shedding quite a bit of the dark aura that usually cloaks their work. That’s not to say that all is rosy; the acoustic psych/folk of “Radiant Hearts” looks over its shoulder at a passionate life that went nowhere, and the slightly sludgy “Rollercoaster” features lyrics that reflect the belief that there’s a yang to every yin in any given situation and getting the two forces to align isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

But songs like “Old Fangs,” despite its ominous title, are much more carefree. “Old Fangs” buzzes with psych-rocking electric guitar, floats on an organ riff that many will recognize as a nod to Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” and features a traditional verse-chorus-bridge type arrangement; the quit-thinking-and-bob-your-head song is a perfect mash-up of classic rock and pop genius as displayed by someone like Billy Corgan.

The coolest thing about Black Mountain is that whether they’re incorporating bits of Black Sabbath (“Let Spirits Ride”), Jefferson Airplane (“The Way To Gone”) or X (“Wilderness Heart”) into their music, you can count on them to take these seeds and come up with their own interesting hybrids.

Grade: B



Wilderness Heart is currently available.