In the interviews leading up to the release of Liars‘ self-titled new LP, the band was quick to point out that, as compared to last years incredibly dense Drums Not Dead, the new album would be “chill“.
Now, I don’t know if the definition of chill is somewhat different over there in Germany than here in Canada, but damn. What we’ve got is awesome metal distorted guitars, heavy drums and enough psychedelica to drown an entire continent of witches. It’s like revisiting industrial goth, removing the make-up & pretension and adding just enough neuroticism & paranoia to completely defy any expectations you might have had going into the record.
You’ve got songs like “Freak Out”, which, with its jangly guitars, loose drums and deadpan vocal track, is a total throw back to classic Bauhaus. “Plaster Casts of Everything” (which was given an exclusive preview over at p-fork) is the best alternative rock song the genre has produced this year. For shame, Smashing Pumpkins. Or how about how the finale, “Protection”, with it’s 80s synths and almost mechanical drumbeat, could almost pass as a classic Bowie track? It is like the band is sampling all the best parts of music history, filtering out the cheese factor & supplying us with the crème.
And so, here again, we are left with Liars pushing their sound direction forward, making it simultaneously denser (some tracks, like “Leather Prowler” are easily as layered as anything on Drums Not Dead) and lighter. I don’t know if their sense of melody has ever shone so brightly. This dust makes that mud, indeed.
blowin’ yer house down:
01 Plaster Casts of Everything
02 Houseclouds
03 Leather Prowler
04 Sailing to Byzantium
05 What Would They Know
06 Cycle Time
07 Freak Out
08 Pure Unevil
09 Clear Island
10 The Dumb in the Rain
11 Protection
mp3: (removed by request)
Liars - Freak Out.
Liars - Houseclouds.
(Liars‘ Liars is due out August 28th on Mute Records. In the meantime, check out their myspace page & official site!)
0 Responses to “Liars’ Big Chill.”