L.S. Dunes 'Violet' LP

The earliest version of L.S. Dunes—the one that introduced themselves to the world at Chicago’s Riot Fest in 2022 and went on to release their blissfully chaotic debut, Past Lives, later that year—was birthed in turbulence. There was a pandemic. There were time and family constraints. There were members away on tour with one of their many other bands: Frank Iero’s My Chemical Romance, Anthony Green’s Saosin and Circa Survive, Travis Stever’s Coheed and Cambria, and Tim Payne and Tucker Rule’s Thursday, among them. But somehow, they managed to make it work, touring the globe for a growing and passionate fanbase and finding their footing as a distinct and singular band of their own design along the way.

Now, with the release of their second full-length album, Violet—once again helmed by Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip—L.S. Dunes live up to the promise set by their debut, and in many ways, open up an opportunity to rediscover the band in a different light: Where Past Lives takes its oxygen from the thrill of frenzy and impulsiveness, Violet breathes deeper with a more open and expansive palette. Whether it lives in the confident and steady pulse of a song like “Machines,” in the rousing lyrical empowerment of “Paper Tigers,” or in the way that “Forgiveness” forges itself as an anthem for love and unconditional acceptance in the face of our personal failures, Violet is a body of work that secures multiple outcomes: There is hindsight. There is hope. There is, in fact, magic.