With such a star-studded lineup of fantastic musicians and songwriters, and a ready made fanbase of emo and alternative fans, it was definitely difficult not to be swept up in the hype of L.S. Dunes over this past month or so. Their arrival and announcement was initially shrouded in mystery, with the members of the band announced one by one in teaser videos across their socials. Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance) and Travis Stever (Coheed and Cambria) take guitar duties, with a rhythm section provided by members of Thursday (Tim Payne on bass and Tucker Rule on drums). Finally, Anthony Green of Circa Survive lends his distinctive vocal cords to the project which rounds the whole thing off very nicely.
But if you’re expecting a My Chemical Romance, Coheed and Cambria, Thursday or Circa Survive record, Past Lives is not that. Instead, the members draw on their own strengths and styles to create something new and clearly have a lot of fun doing it. The album has many lovely moments and some hints at greatness. It isn’t an immediate earth-shattering classic, but instead, one of those that grows on you.
Opener ‘2022’ is a beautiful and slightly haunting exploration into bad mental health, starting the album off strong and really showcasing Anthony’s vocals. And again on ‘It Takes Time’, the structure and balance of the track allow the vocals to shine more. The band should lean into this. The tracks with more dynamic production, peaks and troughs, and a stronger vocal mix are the ones that stand out. At other times, the vocals seem to get a little lost in the mix and buried under the guitars.
The balance of noisy raucous punk tracks and more subtle post-hardcore is an interesting one but doesn’t always work, with the record feeling like it could do with a couple more bigger choruses and more powerful melody lines. Where the band shine the most are on tracks such like ‘Grey Veins’, one of the biggest earworms on the record with a repeated chorus-line and strong melody.
Debut single ‘Permanent Rebellion’ and the proceeding closer ‘Sleep Cult’ is a solid banger and still one of the best tracks on the record which is, overall, a pretty solid debut. It feels like the band could move in either direction but with the tone and timbre of Anthony Green’s vocals, more melodic tracks would make sense and play to the band’s strengths. We all know Frank Iero can write a catchy guitar hook too. It’ll be very interesting to watch what these guys do next.