The Pink Mountaintops play lengthy, beautiful set

Thursday night’s show by The Pink Mountaintops at the Russian Recording studios was a great way to kick off the weekend – as long as you had time to spare.

Local band Tammar opened with an impressive-sounding set followed by Canadian band Quest for Fire. By the end of Quest’s set, fans were growing anxious to see the main event.

Stephen McBean and the rest of the members of The Pink Mountaintops hopped on the stage just before midnight, and the studio filled up instantly. They kicked the show off with “Axis: Thrones of Love,” the lead track from the band’s new album “Outside Love,” which was released May 5.

Armed with an acoustic guitar, McBean and band played their way through most of “Outside Love,” exciting a few eager dancers with up-tempo tunes like “Holiday” and “The Gayest of Sunbeams.”

With “Outside Love” came the band’s first dip into a more raucous sound, which sounds just like a blissful rock-out between friends. The sound of the record was overall positive, and I was curious to see how it would translate to the live performance.

After a cluster of upbeat songs, McBean nailed the beautiful “Vampire” with raspy vocals and lo-fi guitar.

The band joined in for lines “Oh, creatures in flight, let’s be creatures of the night,” creating a beautiful chorus surrounding semi-haunting lyrics. It was gorgeous.

Unfortunately, after the tempo slowed, so did the dedication of the audience. Fans trickled out as the clocked approached 1 a.m. For a show that started off strong, the ending sure was somber.

Only a fraction of the audience remained as the band seemed to cut the set short, ending somewhat abruptly with “And I Thank You,” another track from the new album.

Few would disagree that the show was great, but there was a lot of talk of it being too lengthy. (I think the Mountaintops’ set suffered from long openers and even longer setup breaks.) Still, their sound is a foggy kind of beautiful, and still clandestine to most.

Do yourself a favor and discover them.