Black Mountain are a band that successfully navigate the stormy seas between inspiration and imitation. In his review of the Canadian quintet’s second album, In The Future, Ed Butler describes it as “a '70s rock album that sounds as fresh and vital as anything you're likely to hear in 2008”. Despite the fact that it is only January, it’s not a tough call to make for anyone that has let themselves experience the sonic stylings of this mighty release.

The band’s 2005 self-titled debut record was critically well received but that didn’t make the recording process on the follow-up any easier on the band: “When we recorded the first album we had only been a band for about three months and it was a four piece. We were still getting to know each-other and (were) building band chemistry,” explains Black Mountain’s Amber Webber. After Black Mountain, the band toured relentlessly and added a fifth member, feeling that the conditions were not quite right for bunkering down in the recording studio: “We attempted to record the album as soon as we finished a year of touring the first album. It only took three days in the studio to realize that our hearts weren't into it.” 

After taking a year off to pursue other interests and work their regular jobs (for three band members that includes working at North America’s first legal drug injection clinic) they felt more relaxed about taking on the rigors of laying down some new material: “We've become the best of friends and, because of that, we went into the studio uninhibited. It felt so natural, and easy ... something we're really proud of,” Webber says. When asked about her opinions on the pressures of recording compared to that experienced during the rock explosion of the ‘60s and ‘70s, she is candid in acknowledging the demands modern artists face: “For us to make an album that we stand behind, we needed a long break between records. I think a lot of bands feel pressure to write a second album soon after their first because they think their fans will forget they exist or (there is) pressure from their label. The problem is that if you're thinking like that, you're going to write a shitty album.” 

There is no doubt that In The Future is a far more assured and socially rich record than it’s predecessor. It has a stronger focus on creating more restrained and intricate composition without losing any of the ferocity of the debut. “I don't think we could ever compare what we did on our debut album to In The Future. We knew that it would naturally be different.” That difference manifested itself in the bonds that were created, and strengthened, by living in each other’s pockets; something that often rips bands asunder. “Anything that takes up most of your days your going to put more heart and soul into,” explains Webber, “I think we are now stronger as a band, and In The Future is a product of that.”

Reaching back into the past, Webber recounts where it all began for her as a musician and plain-old lover of good music: “As a kid my parents listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, and a hell of a lot of country music…Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton…I would just stare off while listening to it and think about how one day I wanted to play music.” She continues, “I think it's something you're born with. I can't remember a time when music wasn't a huge part of my life. Going to punk shows when I was growing up was a big inspiration for me, I was so shy as a teen, so hearing and watching people not give a fuck what anyone thought of them was very liberating.” 

One can argue that the punk aesthetic is visible in most of what Black Mountain do, interestingly because that movement was partly spawned as a reaction to the ‘dinosaur-rock’ acts that the band take so much of their musical inspiration from. Whilst most of songwriter Stephen McBean’s lyrics appear to be influenced by the very same Aleister Crowley writings that Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page was so enamoured with, one of In The Future’s epic tracks, ‘Tyrants’, seems to take an open shot at the departing Bush regime (“Bastard, you won’t be forgiven”, “you’ll be downed by your power…and the blood you’ve spilt”) but Webber is not so certain in commenting on a song that she takes co-lead vocal duties on: “ I can't say for sure but my guess is that Steve's lyrics for ‘Tyrants’ have nothing to do with the tyrant that is in power in the U.S. We really aren't much of a political band. Steve never talks about what his lyrics mean, and I've never asked. I like the mystery of lyrics. I think they are best left for the listener to interpret.” 

So, looking into the ‘future’, what is Webber’s advice to the listener for ensuring a peaceful and rewarding life? “A good start is finding happiness within yourself.....after that, hell if I know.”