Black Mountain

Black Mountain play Baba Yaga Up on Saturday, November 7, from 10:45 PM to 11:50 PM. It's a late one, and it closes out the night at Baba Yaga Up, which is one of the stages in the Baba Obscura festival—four nights of music spread across six stages and six venues in Pioneer Square and Pike Place.

Black Mountain is a Canadian psychedelic rock band from Vancouver, formed in 2004 and led by Stephen McBean, who started the group from the ashes of Jerk With a Bomb. Their self-titled 2005 debut on Jagjaguwar earned critical acclaim and a three-week North American tour opening for Coldplay. Since then, they've put out albums like In the Future (2008), Wilderness Heart (2010), and Destroyer (2019), and they've built a name as torchbearers of heavy, atmospheric rock.

Two things define their sound. One is the dual-vocal arrangement, pairing McBean's grit with soaring melodies. The other is the instrumentation: vintage-leaning synthesizers and heavy guitar riffs. They're also known for a shifting membership over the years, so the lineup has changed, but the core sound—that blend of psych-rock and heavy, atmospheric textures—has stayed. If you've never heard them, it's a good place to start with the early records and work your way forward.

Because this is part of Baba Obscura, the show is just one piece of a larger festival running across Pioneer Square and Pike Place. Black Mountain takes the stage at Baba Yaga Up on Saturday night, November 7, from 10:45 PM to 11:50 PM, closing out the evening.