Liars
For their fourth album, Liars, an abrasive NYC art-rock trio, tone down the extremist end of their sound (though it still rears its experimental head with the industrial clang of “Leather Powder” and the horror film echoes of “The Dumb in the Rain”) and attempt to bring their abrasive concepts into the pop landscape. They once seemed unable to find a trace of beauty to offset their bleakest moments, but here melodies emerge from the murky fog and create ominous, not offensive, environments. “Sailing to Byzantium” has the muted sense of *Faith*-era Cure, the keyboards gently surfing the consistent buzz. “What Would They Know” is closer to what those familiar with the group’s previous work might expect: tough, reverberated instruments blurring into vocals that chant and moan in disconnected emotion. “Cycle Time” uses layers of guitars for a Glenn Branca-like ambience. “Freak Out” suggests a modern psychedelia sans any semblance of flower power. Part Pere Ubu, part Sonic Youth, part Einsturzende Neubaten, even part Clientele, as an album *Liars* delivers a quick trip through the previous 25 years of truly alternative sounds with a small but essential dose of pop smarts lurking underneath the chaos.
These wildly unpredictable art-rockers infuse the murky experimentation of their last two albums with the raw two- and three-chord rigor of punk, 1960s garage, and early 70s hard rock.
By this point, anyone hoping for a return to Liars' dance-punk days must feel like Eddie Murphy fans wondering when he's going to drop the fat suit and make another Beverly Hills Cop. Still, leave it to the Brooklyn trio to confound expectations yet again with some of its most accessible songs yet. From the opener,…
After making densely packed, high-concept albums like They Were Wrong, So We Drowned and Drum's Not Dead, the most experimental thing Liars could do was make their version of a pop album.
<p>Noise-pop and proper songwriting can live in almost perfect harmony. <strong>Mike Barnes</strong> hears exactly how it is done.</p>
When Liars boldly left the well-beaten path of their dance-funk post-punk revival origins three years ago and wandered into the wilderness in search of...