A quick and barely coherent review, as I’m groggy from holiday travels and a bit buzzed from holiday libations. But seeing as Sisterworld leaked almost 24 hours ago, we had to get this review up a.s.a.p. Hopefully Web Sheriff won’t shut down down like he/she did last year at this time for the Merriweather leak. So, moving forward…
I’m not sure if Liars often find themselves in the same conversation as some of the most revered names in contemporary music. Probably not (though they don’t need the overhyping). Their trajectory runs quite parallel to, say, Radiohead and Wilco. Liars, like the aforementioned, began their journey as something accessible, and over the years, acutely turned into something more unique and significant. At the height of the dance punk craze, Liars’ released their boring debut They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top. It was loved and fans were engaged. Then, the band got very interesting and released They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. It was a Lou Reed moment – the album was strange and bore no resemblance to their previous jam hive. I loved Drowned personally, but it was generally disliked. Liars honed in their experimental sensibilities in a more focused and acclaimed work through Drum’s Not Dead, then followed up with their more straightforward eponymous record one year later. Many distinct movements, all without jumping the shark. Sound familiar?
Sisterworld finds Liars taking another turn. The noise bursts of their latter work is gone, and so is the rhythm of their early releases. Sparse, epic, eclectic, shape shifting, and somewhat optimistic, Sisterworld is accessible and bizarre. It’s even pretty at times (see the, like, almost tender vocals and Cocteau Twins-like synth swells on “Too Much Too Much”). “Here Comes All the People” boasts cinematic strings, and “Drip” is a slow burning, glacial lament to lull you before being slung against the wall on “Scarecrows on a Killer Slant.” The trademark chanting of Angus Andrew stamps “Proud Evolution” – the only mark that this is a Liars track, as this song acts as the group’s first real foray into remarkably majestic dream pop. “I Still Can See An Outside World” adopts the popular ’90s post rock quiet-loud dynamic, yet while looking to the future (for example, the guitars are tuned in a way in which the riffs sound backwards… take a listen below). Epic shoegaze punk finds its way on “The Overachievers.”"Goodnight Everything” begins with samples of, perhaps, androids being built on the assembly line over a snaky guitar line, which snowballs into a battle march. Raping and pillaging ensues.
So, the common denominator here is that Liars have moved from the garage to outer space. Sisterworld is large and expansive, sounding close to some sort of vague concept record without coming off as pretentious or wanky. Liars drop another nickle in the awesome jar, and perhaps have earned a spot on the “most underrated” list over the past decade.
MP3 :::
Liars – I Still Can See An Outside World
Liars – Too Much, Too Much
