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Past Lives (L.S. Dunes album)

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Past Lives
Standard cover
Studio album by
ReleasedNovember 11, 2022 (2022-11-11)
StudioStudio 4 Recording (Philadelphia)
Genre
Length43:21
LabelFantasy, Concord
Producer
L.S. Dunes chronology
Past Lives
(2022)
Lost Songs: Lines and Shapes
(2023)
Singles from Past Lives
  1. "Permanent Rebellion"
    Released: August 26, 2022
  2. "2022"
    Released: September 23, 2022
  3. "Bombsquad"
    Released: October 21, 2022

Past Lives is the debut studio album by American supergroup L.S. Dunes. It was released on November 11, 2022 by Fantasy Records and distributed through Concord. Three singles preceded the album's release: "Permanent Rebellion", "2022", and "Bombsquad".

Background and recording

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The seeds for L.S. Dunes were sown during rehearsals for Thursday's 2020 Christmas livestream, where guitarists Frank Iero and Travis Stever engaged in "serendipitous, impromptu jam sessions" alongside Thursday bassist Tim Payne and drummer Tucker Rule, where they had an "instantaneous" chemistry.[1] Although there weren't originally plans for an album, the members of L.S. Dunes continued writing songs and convened in person for the first time in mid-2021, with time booked to record at the end of that year.[2]

The band had fully formed and individually recorded their parts on Past Lives before landing on Anthony Green as a vocalist, who wasn't aware who was in the group when he began recording vocals.[3] Past Lives was produced by Will Yip who tracked the band at his Studio 4 Recording space in Philadelphia.[4] A month before studio time in September, Iero slipped from a ladder and broke his wrist which delayed the session to December.[2]

Composition

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Past Lives is a post-hardcore and emo album.[5][6][7][8][9] The album opens with "2022", a track which originally appeared on Green's solo album Boom. Done. (2022) but was removed from digital versions of the album.[10] It is a "somber"[11] and "hypnotic" song.[12] The song has been described by Green as "the most fucked-up" and "personal" he ever wrote.[5][13] "Antibodies"[a] is a "frenetic"[12] and "driving" track,[14] which was the first they had completed work on.[2] "Grey Veins" is a "masterful" emo composition with a "massive" chorus,[2] high vocals and "thundering" drums.[5] "Like Forever" features "bouncy, intricate" guitarwork by Stever, while "Blender" has a prominent bassline.[15]

The album's title track has Green howl the lyric "I'm not all my mistakes, no matter what they say about it...".[2] "It Takes Time" is a "powerful" song,[11] while "Bombsquad" features "garotte-sharp" political observations[2] inspired by Green's disgust with Donald Trump and the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack.[16] "Grifter" is a "chaotic" song,[11] while "Permanent Rebellion" is a "blast" of punk rock[14] with "soaring" guitar work.[11] The album's closer, "Sleep Cult", pays homage to 1950s doo-wop.[2]

Singles and promotion

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To coincide with the band's formal unveiling, the album was made available for pre-order and its cover art and track listing was announced,[1] along with the release of "Permanent Rebellion" and its accompanying music video as the album's lead single on August 26, 2022.[17][15] "2022 was released as the second single on September 23, 2022.[18][19] "Bombsquad" was released as the third single on October 21, 2022,[16] alongside a live video of a performance at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock, New York.[4]

Past Lives was released on November 11, 2022 by Fantasy Records and distributed through Concord. To support the album's release, YouTube Music advertised Past Lives on the Nashville Sign billboard.[20]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[21]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[22]
Clash8/10[23]
Dork[14]
Kerrang![24]
The Line of Best Fit6/10[5]
New Noise[25]
Sputnikmusic[26]
Wall of Sound9/10[27]

Past Lives received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on six reviews.[21] BrooklynVegan's Andrew Sacher opined that the album "exceeds expectations" for a supergroup, characterizing it as "personal, impactful music".[9] Sam Law of Kerrang! thought the tracks contained "flickers of familiarity" that were "in service of breaking new ground".[2] Writing for Dork, Rob Mair praised Green's "typically powerful performance" but criticized the songs "Blender" and "2022" for being more "pedestrian" than others.[14]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by L.S. Dunes

Past Lives track listing
No.TitleLength
1."2022"4:30
2."Antibodies"3:29
3."Grey Veins"4:26
4."Like Forever"3:20
5."Blender"4:29
6."Past Lives"4:10
7."It Takes Time"3:26
8."Bombsquad"3:51
9."Grifter"4:42
10."Permanent Rebellion"3:13
11."Sleep Cult"3:45
Total length:43:21

Personnel

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L.S. Dunes

Studio personnel

  • Will Yip – production, recording production, mixing, record engineering
  • Anneliese Parenti – engineering
  • Justin Bartlett – engineering
  • Ryan Smith – master engineering
  • Vince Ratti – mixing

Associated performers

  • L.S. Dunes – production, recording production
  • Billy Perez – music production

Charts

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Chart performance for Past Lives
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Australian Digital Albums (ARIA)[28] 44
Scottish Albums (OCC)[29] 21
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[30] 59
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[31] 5
US Billboard 200[32] 174

Notes

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  1. ^ Referred to as "Antidotes" by Dork.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b Robinson, Ellie (August 27, 2022). "Members of My Chemical Romance, Coheed And Cambria, Thursday and more form supergroup L.S. Dunes". NME. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Law, Sam (November 9, 2022). "L.S. Dunes: "We didn't realise how much we needed this band until we started writing for it"". Kerrang!. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  3. ^ Chesler, Josh (September 28, 2022). "L.S. Dunes is the Anti-Supergroup Born Out of Memes & Friends". Spin. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Robinson, Ellie (October 24, 2022). "L.S. Dunes tackle hatred and fear on biting new single 'Bombsquad'". NME. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d Oleinik, Marie (November 8, 2022). "L.S. Dunes: Past Lives Review - well-executed good music from seasoned musicians". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  6. ^ "Essential Releases, November 11, 2022". Bandcamp Daily. November 11, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  7. ^ Singer, Quentin (November 11, 2022). "November 2022's Rock Release Radar". Forbes. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  8. ^ Shadows, Em (November 11, 2022). "Sh*t That Comes Out Today - November 11, 2022". MetalSucks. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  9. ^ a b Sacher, Andrew (November 11, 2022). "Album Reviews: LS Dunes, Dream Unending, GloRilla, Wizkid, more". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  10. ^ Sacher, Andre (September 23, 2022). "L.S. Dunes (Circa Survive, My Chem, Thursday, Coheed) share powerful new song "2022"". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d Shumaker, Shannon (November 10, 2022). "LS Dunes Past Lives Review". Prelude Press. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Artist Interview: Tucker Rule of LS Dunes". The Alternative. November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  13. ^ Hadusek, Jon (November 11, 2022). "L.S. Dunes (MCR, Coheed, Thursday, Circa Survive) Dissect Past Lives Track by Track". Consequence. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d e Mair, Rob (November 10, 2022). "L.S. Dunes - Past Lives". Dork. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  15. ^ a b Pallais, JP (November 11, 2022). "L.S. Dunes - "Past Lives"". Everything Is Noise. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Deville, Chris (October 21, 2022). "L.S. Dunes Share New Song "Bombsquad": Listen". Stereogum. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  17. ^ Lindsey (August 26, 2022). "L.S. Dunes Releases First Song "Permanent Rebellion"". Nerds and Beyond. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  18. ^ Richards, Will (September 24, 2022). "Supergroup L.S. Dunes share fierce second single '2022'". NME. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  19. ^ "Credits / 2022 / L.S. Dunes". Tidal. September 23, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  20. ^ @lsdunes (November 11, 2022). "Thanks so much to @youtubemusic for the support! Listen to 'Past Lives' now on #YouTubeMusic 🦂 https://t.co/qLJwJXaDfV https://t.co/idknD1uXnJ" (Tweet). Retrieved November 12, 2022 – via Twitter.[dead link]
  21. ^ a b "Past Lives by L.S. Dunes Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  22. ^ "L.S. Dunes - Past Lives Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  23. ^ Swingle, Emily (November 11, 2022). "L.S. Dunes - Past Lives". Clash. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  24. ^ Hingle, James (November 16, 2022). "Album review: L.S. Dunes – Past Lives". Kerrang!. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  25. ^ Curtiss, Ryan (November 8, 2022). "Album Review: L.S. Dunes - Past Lives". New Noise Magazine. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  26. ^ "Review: L.S. Dunes - Past Lives". Sputnikmusic. November 7, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  27. ^ Oakeshott, Will (November 7, 2022). "L.S. Dunes – Past Lives (Album Review)". Wall of Sound. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  28. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 21 November 2022". The ARIA Report. No. 1707. Australian Recording Industry Association. November 21, 2022. p. 10.
  29. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  30. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  31. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  32. ^ "Billboard 200: Week of November 26, 2022". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
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