Local Review: Painted Lines – Painted Lines

Painted Lines
Painted Lines
Split End Records
Street: 7.10
Painted Lines = The Cure + The Sound + New Found Glory

Painted Lines’ eponymous first EP serves up old-school goth atmospheres with acutely morose (if slightly sophomoric) lyricism. Across the release’s five tracks, Brad Rhoades—who wrote and performed every guitar lick, vocal take and snare hit—delivers a lively retro vibe that manages to be every bit as somberly fun as post-punk antecedents like Joy Division or Siouxsie and the Banshees. And while Painted Lines is Rhoades’ solo project, the EP’s sound is so full and developed that I thought Painted Lines had at least three members when I originally reviewed one of the singles.

The EP opens with “Candles,” an anxious meditation on mortality. Over thumping drums and somber guitar riffs, Rhoades sings about a flickering candle lit during a power outage, and it quickly becomes evident he’s using it as a metaphor for the brevity of life. Whether Rhoades intends it to or not, this image holds an echo of William Shakespeare’s “Out, out, brief candle!” from Macbeth. After brooding over his own fleeting existence, Rhoades broadens the lyrics to include all of humanity and grieve about how short human life is. Then, the song takes a turn for the ominous by hinting at a looming apocalypse with the lines, “Dying embers, a spark remains / Still enough to put this whole world up in flames … One day we will all blow out our last candle.”  

More reserved artists might’ve chosen to place a track about death at the end of their record instead of the beginning, but with this placement, Rhoades boldly establishes a tone of unease and bereavement which persists through the rest of the EP. Even the relatively upbeat second track, “Didn’t Get Your Name,” is ultimately about loss. In this song, Rhoades tells of a short-lived romance with a gorgeous stranger in a dance hall. Sadly, this love story ends with a big yellow taxi taking this new flame away. I’d imagine that fans of early aughts pop-punk might like this track best, because here Rhoades’ voice takes on a boisterous croon reminiscent of Jordan Pundik.

On track three, “Lost in Translation,” Rhoades turns to the theme of how difficult it is to truly relate to anyone. This song, which puts its aggro basslines and screechy vocals centerstage, is a little more threadbare than the rest of the EP. To its credit, though, this sparse angstiness nicely reflects the frustration of a communication breakdown. And even on this relatively minimalist track, some iconic post-punkiness still carries through in the trebly guitars and haunting synths. 

The next song, “Boxes of Bones,” is the album’s standout track for me. It begins with unassuming, palm-muted guitar chucks which Rhoades soon augments with gutsy drums and a modest bassline. Then, in his eerie upper-register, he sings about a moonlit walk through a cemetery. The first lines convey a profound isolation as Rhoades asks if he’s the only one who can find solace among tombstones. But then he’s consoled by the thought of all the dead lying peacefully beneath his feet, and he feels a communal bond with the deceased. In the final verse, he states, “I am not afraid, I may not be alone / But walking along with ghosts, I feel right at home.” This macabre, Edgar Allan Poe-esque theme is juxtaposed against the track’s lively pace, resulting in a cheerful jaunt through a boneyard. 

After this joyfully grim diversion, the EP returns to more melancholy fare on the final track, “Neverlast.” While a rolling bassline, distorted guitars and cymbal-heavy drumbeats create a moody backdrop, Rhoades sings about visiting his childhood neighborhood and finding that all the familiar places have become strange as they’ve changed over the years. “We’re just a memory in a photograph / Nothing ever lasts,” he concludes mournfully. For an EP about death and loss, you couldn’t write a better ending. 

Painted Lines is available on streaming services, but physical media purists will be pleased to know that a limited run of 25 cassettes were made, and each one comes with a lyric book and a sticker. You can purchase yours on Painted Lines’ Bandcamp while supplies last. –Joe Roberts

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