Chris Leo's the Van Pelt Unearth 'Imaginary Third'

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Feb 20, 2014

Poetic '90s post-punks the Van Pelt have been broken up for nearly 20 years, but the New York outfit have just uncovered a wellspring of previously unreleased material to act as a follow-up of sorts to their 1997 sophomore set Sultans of Sentiment. Their Imaginary Third arrives through Barcelona-based imprint La Castanya on Record Store Day (April 19).

A press release notes that the eight-song collection features cuts that would have likely appeared on a third full-length LP, had the act not split up in 1997. Most of the songs were recorded between 1996 and 1997 with Nicolas Vernhes at Brooklyn's Rare Book Room studio, though "The Betrayal" was tracked at Tampa, FL's Morris Sound studio with Steve Heritage (Assück).

While the bulk of the recordings are previously unreleased, fans of guitarist/vocalist Chris Leo may recognize the songs all the same. The first five tracks were later reworked on Betrayal, the first album from the Lapse, in which Van Pelt/Blonde Redhead bassist Toko Yasuda also played. The last three songs on Imaginary Third, meanwhile, had previously been issued by the band as The Speeding Train 7-inch on Art Monk Construction. The title cut was also later reworked by the Lapse.

You'll find the tracklisting for Imaginary Third, as well as a stream of its stirring, minimalist closer "The Speeding Train," down below. You'll find the album art up above.

Over the years, members of the Van Pelt have gone on to play in the Lapse, Vague Angels, Enon, Jets to Brazil, Butterflies of Love and more. Leo has also published three novels, including 2004's White Pigeons and 2006's 57 Octaves.

Imaginary Third:

1. Infinite Me
2. The Threat
3. A, B, C, D's of Fascism
4. Three People Wide At All Times
5. The Betrayal
6. Democratic Teachers Union
7. Evil High
8. The Speeding Train

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