Supergroup L.S. Dunes have just dropped their highly anticipated debut album Past Lives. The LP’s release consummates a five-headed collaboration between like-minded musicians who are cut from a similar cloth: My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero, Coheed and Cambria’s Travis Stever, Circa Survive’s Anthony Green, and Thursday’s Tim Payne and Tucker Rule.
With such a wealth of combined talent, it’s no surprise that the 11 songs on Past Lives are a tour-de-force of post-hardcore. The album is especially rewarding for those who are familiar with each band member’s past work. On each song, you can catch sonic idiosyncrasies and easter eggs that inevitably trigger a pang of nostalgia. For example, Iero’s catchy chord progressions will perk the ears the MCR faithful. Meanwhile, Anthony Green’s impassioned vocals make Past Lives mandatory listening for Circa Survive fans.
The collective consciousness tends to pigeonhole supergroups as lesser projects — a distraction from each member’s day job, half-baked collabs, etc. — but L.S. Dunes put in the time and work to make their debut album more substantial. Just take it from the band members themselves, who offered up a track-by-track breakdown of Past Lives exclusively for Heavy Consequence. Their remarks reveal just how much care and effort went into the songwriting and recording process.
Stream the entire Past Lives album and read the track-by-track breakdown from L.S. Dunes’ individual members below.
“2022”
“2022” is probably the most personal song that I’ve ever written in my life. Every time I get to the verses of that song, I get a lump in my throat like I said too much. I never want a song to hurt or worry anyone, but they also cannot be a place that I hide in. Working on yourself and getting better is a slow process. “2022” is a reflection on the patience that’s required of a person during the process of recovery, when you’re conditioned towards the hunt for immediate gratification. There are moments when you’re fighting for your life, moments when you don’t think you can keep going. In those moments, I always need to tell someone — because that support you get from people who believe in you can make a huge difference. — Anthony Green
“Antibodies”
“Antibodies” started as the first group of riffs that I sent in. It was also the first group of riffs that were sent around in general. After receiving a joint text from everyone, I decided to sit right down and work on a riff. I have a tuning that I have used on a few songs in the past; I tune the low E up to F. It makes for a really cool approach at playing the low E open while barring the rest of the strings. I went straight to that tuning. I wanted to send something unique but still catchy. I respect all the guys so much as musicians and wanted this to work, so mentally, I was like.. “You gotta send something good!” No pressure, right? As everyone added their parts to the song, it was clear we had a chemistry. Eventually, this would also be the first Past Lives song that Anthony added vocals to. Which blew our minds. And here we are. — Travis Stever
“Grey Veins”
I stumbled onto the intro bass line for “Grey Veins” one night, but I I was playing it in the upper register. It was this really quirky little riff and I actually thought it might be a bit too left of center to even bring to the band. I had already convinced myself that they’d hate it, but I figured I’d send it anyway just to see if it sparked any ideas.
I remember immediately after sending it in the group text, probably at like 3 a.m., everyone reacting to it with such excitement. We had all been at the edges of our seats waiting for ideas to be sent and everyone jumped on it immediately. Tucker added the initial verse beat, and then Frank came out of nowhere with this absolutely perfect verse/chorus progression and it actually blew my mind. Hearing Travis’ leads and verse melodies, then Anthony’s vocal ideas and lyrics really brought this little idea to such crazy places. It’s honestly still hard for me to wrap my head around. — Tim Payne