L.S. Dunes released Past Lives on November 11, 2022, through Fantasy Records. Its five members had already built careers in other bands; this one took shape through files sent back and forth while the pandemic kept them apart.
The lineup paired Circa Survive vocalist Anthony Green with My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero, Coheed and Cambria guitarist Travis Stever, and Thursday’s bassist Tim Payne and drummer Tucker Rule. The project grew out of rehearsals for Thursday’s Christmas livestream in 2020, but Green initially knew little about the group he was joining. He told Apple Music that Rule sent him songs without identifying the other players. Green had already put vocals on several tracks before learning who they were. “I would’ve felt so much more pressure,” he said of knowing the lineup in advance. His first connection to the project had been the music itself.
“Permanent Rebellion” introduced L.S. Dunes in August 2022. In an interview published by Atwood Magazine in 2023, Rule recalled how hearing Green’s vocals helped make it the obvious first single. His wife, whom he described as a tough critic of his music, also immediately thought it should be the first song released. The band’s public introduction came with its official music video.
Will Yip produced Past Lives, with sessions at his Studio 4 Recording in Pennsylvania and additional parts recorded remotely. That split required some flexibility. In a release-day interview with Frontstage Magazine, Stever explained that Yip wanted the drums recorded at the studio, where Iero also tracked guitars. COVID restrictions kept Stever and Payne from doing the same, so they recorded their guitar and bass parts remotely. The musicians did get together for preproduction at SST in Weehawken, and Stever credited that time with helping the process. Mixes and masters also circulated by email.
An interruption to that work became the subject of “It Takes Time.” Green wrote it about Iero after the guitarist injured his hand and wrist and needed surgery. In his Apple Music track-by-track, Green explained that sharing music had paused while Iero couldn’t play. He wrote from his bandmate’s perspective, imagining a conversation with the guitar and the creative connection Iero was trying to recover.
There was room for a different approach at the album’s end. “Sleep Cult” closed the record with what Rule described in the Atwood interview as a doo-wop song, far removed from the heaviness of “Permanent Rebellion.” He connected that range to the freedom of starting a new band without an established set of expectations. Their previous groups helped explain who was involved, but they didn’t have to determine every choice on the record.
Fans eventually got to hear the recordings that preceded those finished arrangements. On November 10, 2023, L.S. Dunes released Lost Songs: Lines and Shapes, collecting early versions of all 11 Past Lives tracks. The band had recorded those demos separately in bedrooms and garages during the pandemic. “Blender,” “Bombsquad” and “Grifter” appeared as instrumentals, preserving stages of the writing before the versions heard on the debut.
