Unlike Liars' last two albums, this new self-titled collection drops an overriding concept, unless it's love, youth, the ocean, and summertime nostalgia. More immediate and emotionally raw than past work, Liars' trim, submerged, clattering tracks aren't Drum's Not Dead epic or as percussively ragamuffin as They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. Instead, the eleven bits 'n' pieces locate a gorgeous middle, affixing They Threw Us All In A Trench's dance-punk to darker post-Kraut atmospherics. Think about "The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack"'s wistfulness spun with crushing phase, heavy fuzz, lots of drums. There's a suctioned, claustrophobic, a.m.-radio atmosphere a la some no-waving "Remember (Walking In The Sand)," wall-of-sound Spector. Seriously.
The cascading 'n' cutting "Plaster Casts of Everything" creates the perfect, restless opening, Angus Andrews' yowling "I wanna run away/I wanna bring you, too" all "Thunder Road"-like. It's far from the only rock rager: Two-and-a-half-minute psych-pop nugget "Freak Out" rolls into on a serious Ramones/Kicking Giant surf punk kick?. Let the top down! (Slower, ghostly "What Would They Know" manages a similar feel with more Jesus & Mary Chain results.) Also keeping speed, "Houseclouds" is a teenage pill-dropping anthem that pulses with disco high notes and skittering electro-drums; "Cycle Time" layers Andrews' falsetto ("You touched my hand/That's when I born") over a chanted background, feedbacking guitar riffs, and staccato, half-speed drums that flop to hooky rhythms alongside soaring harmonies; and the clamoring "Clear Island" makes like a speedier, more on-target "It Fit When I Was A Kid" (vocal chant, drumstick work).
These rollers collide with slinky ambience. The creepy, distorto "Leather Prowler" (check the zombie-sung echo-canyon vocals) is as underwater as it gets; the Yeats/boat-dropping "Sailing To Byzantium" drifts on a jaunty falsetto, lulling white-noise waves, layered percussion, and, again, dub-like funhouse synthesizers. "Pure Unevil" takes pop and sprinkles it with oilcan tribal drumming and layers of overstuffed, soft feedback.
All this beachfront rock/balladeering leads to coming-of-age finale, "Protection." On it, pensive electro-drums and melodic keyboards frame a hazy storyline (lifeguards, cave-sneaking, oceanside pot smoking, Polaroids, learning how to drink) that goes from naive perfection ("When you close your eyes / I don't need protection") to darkness/loss, a questioning present, and hope for a less-golden, more realistic future. You almost wonder if the album isn't self-titled, per say, but instead deals with the "liars" all of us become when things don't work out as planned, promises are broken, etc.
Karen O admitted recently that she was crying in the "Maps" video because her then boyfriend, Andrews, for whom she'd written the song, had shown up late to the shoot and she was about to head out on tour. Until now we'd never really thought of the lanky Australian as romantic ? but damn if Liars doesn't cast a bewitching, elegiac spell. So yeah, we understand, Karen: Dude not only makes hearts flutter, Liars are also the only interesting high-profile band remaining from that bygone 2002 Brooklyn post-punk revival. Yeah, summer lovin', happened so fast.
Liars is out 8/28 on Mute.
