Throwback Thursday: Listen to Boys Life’s Departures & Landfalls

Kansas City’s Boys Life broke up in 1997, about a year after releasing its second album, Departures & Landfalls. Frontman Brandon Butler would go on to front both the Farewell Bend and Canyon. In their brief tenure, Boys Life managed to put out a series of recordings — including a genre-defining split with Christie Front Drive — that would solidify them as one of the forerunners of what would come to be known as emo.

On Tuesday, Topshelf Records announced they’re reissuing Departures & Landfalls. The re-release of the band’s second and final album is due out on August 14. The new version will be remastered, which should be interesting, given that the whole thing was recorded by Bob Weston live to two-track in Chicago. Sonically, there’s not a lot of space in which to putter around. In the meantime, you can hear the raw, unfettered original album, released on Headhunter Records, below.

Boys Life will be playing a reunion show “of sorts” with Giants Chair at the RecordBar on Friday, October 16. More information and tickets for that show are available here.