New Music: Collective Fear – Past Life Kennedy

A new year will see Los Angeles-based Collective Fear unveil a new way forward for the group as they release their Doomed to Repeat album.

The album does see the band continue their relationship with Boston’s Candlepin Records, with Past Life Kennedy, its opening number, being the first fruit of the new LP. It retains some of the band’s established post-punk and shoegaze influences, though the drums are brisker, the lead guitar carries greater tension, and the vocals are openly expressive and upfront.

The band has cited Death Cab for Cutie as an influence on the song, and it does have a similar vocal and lyrical clarity, and increasingly glances at post-rock as it grows towards its denouement. It increasingly swaps out its ambrosia tones too, coalescing around a triumvirate of post-rock, Krautrock, and psych, renewing itself even as it seems to be exploding in slow motion.  

They’ve disclosed that the lyrics are about “life, death, and reincarnation,” which makes it a fitting introduction to an album set to redefine their sound, all the while keeping their adventurous spirit – and judging by this, their musical soul – intact and thriving.

Doomed to Repeat is out January 2027 and can be pre-ordered in digital and cassette formats on Bandcamp. Head over to Instagram for up-to-date album news and to learn more about Collective Fear.