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A Charged Studio Set in the Year of IV

Recorded on April 22, 2016, Black Mountain’s full performance in the KEXP studio captures the Canadian outfit at a pivotal moment. The set focuses on material from their 2016 album, IV, translating the record’s expansive psych-rock and space-bound atmospherics into a taut, high-fidelity live environment. Hosted by Cheryl Waters, the session threads together the band’s defining traits: heavy, monolithic riffing, heady synthesizer textures, and the interplay of male and female vocals that lends their sound both grit and lift.

Sound and Approach

Across this performance, Black Mountain operate like a single organism that knows how to pace the ascent. Guitars favor thick, sustained distortion and overtones that bloom at volume, while keys provide both droning undertow and melodic filigree. The rhythm section leans into hypnotic, almost motorik grooves without sacrificing weight. Vocals arrive as layered calls and answers, reverent of classic psych and prog traditions but delivered with the focus of a modern rock act. The result is a sound that feels equally suited to small rooms and wide-open skies.

Track Highlights

Mothers of the Sun
As an opener, “Mothers of the Sun” establishes the session’s slow-burn cosmology. The piece emerges from a low, organ-like haze and a ceremonial beat that gradually gathers mass. When the central riff locks in, it does so with unhurried confidence, allowing the vocals to hover above a swirl of sustained chords and analog shimmer. The live take emphasizes patience and scale, building in concentric circles rather than sprinting to the peak. By the time the guitars are in full roar, the band has earned the eruption.

Defector
“Defector” tightens the screws with a more urgent pulse. The drumming is clipped and forward, propelling a riff that swings between paranoia and propulsion. Keys cut sharp lines through the mix, illuminating the groove rather than smothering it. Lyrically, the track hints at fractures and shifting allegiances, and the delivery amplifies that tension. It is one of the set’s most immediate moments, channeling the band’s heavy-psych backbone into something lean and kinetic.

Line Them All Up
Where the opener sprawls, “Line Them All Up” narrows the frame to reveal nuance. The song carries a melancholic glow, riding a mid-tempo beat and chords that hang in the air with a quiet ache. Voices blend in a way that’s both intimate and detached, underscored by keys that glint at the edges of the arrangement. In the studio setting, the clarity sharpens its introspective tone, highlighting a compositional sense that extends well beyond volume worship.

Space to Bakersfield
“Space to Bakersfield” closes the session on a long arc that feels as much like a journey as a song. The rhythm section settles into a patient cruise while guitar and synth sketch constellations overhead. The mood nods toward cosmic rock lineage, but the band resists indulgence by keeping each layer purposeful. Themes surface, recede, and return with subtle variations, suggesting a highway that never quite straightens, a horizon that keeps drifting forward.

Musicianship and Chemistry

What stands out most across these four performances is the band’s control of space and density. They play with contrasts: deep, sustained chords against percussive patterns; saturated guitar tones offset by airy synth voices; harmonized vocals threaded through an otherwise gritty mix. Transitions are handled with quiet precision, often hinging on small cues from the drums or keys that allow songs to expand and contract without visible seams. It is a mature, lived-in approach to psychedelia, less about spectacle than about mood, momentum, and the slow accumulation of detail.

Why This Session Resonates

Black Mountain’s 2016 period found the group refining their long-running balance between riff-driven heaviness and kosmische drift. This KEXP session documents that balance with a transparency rarely available on stage. It underscores how the band’s compositions breathe when captured close-up, and it affirms their command of dynamics, an element as central to their identity as any particular tone or hook. For listeners tracing the path from their earliest bombast to the widescreen scope of IV, this performance is a telling waypoint.

Session Details and Credits

• Recorded: April 22, 2016
• Host: Cheryl Waters
• Audio Engineer: Kevin Suggs
• Audio Mixer: Chris Preston
• Cameras: Jim Beckmann, Scott Holpainen, Justin Wilmore
• Editor: Scott Holpainen