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Every time I put on Three Mile Pilot a friend of mine would say, "Now I want to kill myself." My own reaction was that of a ridiculous teenager: I wanted to lock myself in my room, or get high with my friends and talk about how its awesomeness, or get tossed and rock out to it like I did when I finally got to see them at the Doug Fir last summer. Even though I grew up in San Diego, somehow I missed TMP's heyday.

Their first album, Na Vucca Do Lopo, released in 1991, consisted of just bass, drums, and vocals. It is sparse and haunting yet catchy. Singer Pall Jenkins couldn't play guitar at that point, though he grew into a stellar and unique rhythm guitarist by the time they released their opus, Another Desert, Another Sea, in 1997 [To each their opus, but I think Chief Assassin to the Sinister is their best record.โ€”Ed.]. Buffered by the addition of Tobias Nathaniel on keyboards, who went on to be in Jenkins' next project, Black Heart Procession, the band's sound was fully realized on Another Desert, Another Sea. Still haunting with a solid pop sensibility, the band became an indie rock classic.

A few years later they had split into two a pair of bands: Black Heart Procession and Pinback. The success of those two distinct acts kept a reunion on hold for years. Often rumored, Three Mile Pilot finally started playing shows last year.

Excited as I was about the reunion I'm even more thrilled to hear that the band has finally recorded a new album, something that was rumored in San Diego for most of the last decade. The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten will be released today via onetime Portland label Temporary Residence. It's written, recorded and produced by all the original members and hopefully will be followed by another visit to Doug Fir.

LISTEN:

Three Mile Pilot - "Days of Wrath"

End Hits: Come on Heavy Vegetable reunion...