Past Lives

They put down the filly Eight Belles at the Derby this year. She placed second on shattered ankles and then collapsed. Can't go on like that. They put down The Blood Brothers late last year. That band did their proverbial "thing" for ten years. That's a damn good run. Jordan, Mark and Morgan regrouped for another go. In Devin (late of Shoplifting) they found an old brother in blood and formed Past Lives. It's all very new and sometimes uncomfortable they say. That's a good thing I'd say. New earth forms beneath each step forward.

During the cold months of 2008 they recorded some new songs. Their friend, Dann Gallucci, engineered and mixed these sessions at Jupiter and Avast! studios in Seattle. Dann was in Modest Mouse and The Murder City Devils. He knows what to do. "Beyond Gone" announces the band's arrival with "no curtain call." Guitars seethe and snarl. Contempt hangs in the air. "Strange Symmetry" recalls the hypnotizing lock-step of The Monorchid. Continually building. Increasingly frantic. Finally breezy. "Skull Lender" rides a feral gallop of desire for memory erasure. The plinky din of jackpot slots couches the fateful ascent of "Reverse The Curse." Sparse glitches flash. "Chrome Life" is a Neu-inspired run to the sun. Guitars and synths awake bleary-eyed and bleed within carefully considered lines. There is a timeless collective instinct at work here.