Other Lives

It’s been many decades since the Dust Bowl struck America, but that isn’t stopping Other Lives from mining its monumental impact. On their 2011 breakthrough, Tamer Animals, the Oklahoma-based fivesome introduced themselves as masters of the orchestral dirge. For their Mind the Gap EP, they’ve picked up where Animals left off, delivering moody, percussive tracks that conjure thoughts of a sad and long-lost locale by way of gorgeous, sweeping compositions. At the helm of it all, frontman Jesse Tabish delivers his lines with far-off conviction; “Dead Can” finds him crying out unintelligibly, a whip crack of percussion keeping time in the background. In the span of just four songs (including a solid Atoms for Peace remix of Tamer Animals’ title track), Mind the Gap manages to capture the grandeur that makes Other Lives so compelling. It also serves as a nice reminder that the strongest inspiration is sometimes also the most unlikely. Other Lives play SOhO Restaurant & Music Club on Friday, November 2, Visit clubmercy.com for info.