Second coming, second try

Do you find yourself with a dearth of part-surf, part-garage rock? Is Dead Confederate just too heavy for your tastes and Brightblack Morning Light too soft? Then fear not—Past Lives is about to release an album just for you.

The new album, Tapestry of Webs, is a solid effort by musicians with long experience in the Pacific Northwest scene, though there are some flaws puncturing its potential to be groundbreaking. It’s the second album Past Lives has put together since they came together in the aftermath of The Blood Brothers.

Suicide Squeeze Records in Seattle, Wash., releases records from bands that don’t altogether suck nor shatter musical ground. Most of the albums on the label, then, have a mishmash of duds and decent songs that get forgotten next to one or two transcendent tracks.

Tapestry of Webs follows that formula closely, and most of the 12 tracks could well be the same one—a song with a steady rhythm guitar alongside some interesting use of a piano or other instrument outside the usual rock arsenal, all topped by sound of what might be singing or a feral cat caught in a bear trap. However, “There is a Light so Bright it Blinds” is a relaxed track that closes the album. The song isn’t brilliant, but it stands way above the rest in terms of listenability.

Past Lives is a phoenix raised from the ashes of The Blood Brothers, a post-punk outfit intent on screeching at listeners with surprise explosions of energy. Past Lives doesn’t have nearly the in-your-face virulence of The Blood Brothers, but they still have art-rockish progressions that seem uncoordinated at times. It makes you wonder if a Past Lives show would look like an improvisational marvel or just a train wreck of bad timing.

The groovy tone of the guitar is what makes this album listenable, especially with the nice—and never overbearing—bass lines and drum work that, despite the hectic swings in song direction, keep the pace. Case in point, this band would probably be among Suicide Squeeze’s best if not for the god-awful caterwauling of singer Jordan Billie, whose crazy-as-a-crack-head style has been toned down since The Blood Brothers. However, he should either have stuck with being ballsy and abrasive or gone acoustic—this middle ground doesn’t fit him well, even though the rest of Past Lives put together a solid effort on Tapestry of Webs.

Past Lives will play at the Doug Fir Lounge on Feb. 18 with Thee Oh Sees and Asss. It’ll be an interesting show with lots of tracks that sound the same—and a few that’ll make it worth the price of admission and some beer.