Liars - Liars Preview

Liars will release their self-titled fourth album 8/28 on Mute Records. It seems like only yesterday their fantastic third album, Drum's Not Dead, was released and subsequently ended up on nearly every blogger's the top albums of 2006 list. (#14 on mine) Well, here they come again. The forthcoming album has surfaced considerably earlier than many (including myself) had anticipated-- a full two-and-a-half months prior to its release date. In fact, Pitchfork posted an "Exclusive Premiere" limited duration stream (48 hours) of the album's opening track, "Plaster Casts of Everything", just today. So much for that type of "exclusivity". Drum's Not Dead was a demanding, yet ultimately rewarding listen that relied heavily on abstract droning and sometimes eerie dynamic tension. The majestic closing track, "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack", provided a resolution that made making it through the often-challenging record all the more satisfying.

Liars is more initially accessible than the concept-orientated Drum's and often finds the band embracing electric guitars and more traditional instrumentation, song structures, and even pop melodies. But, this definitely not to say all traces of Drum's are gone. In fact, a few of tracks would have fit nicely on that record-- "Leather Prowler", "What Would They Know", and "Pure Unevil" in particular. Upon a cursory listen, the album seems to strike a nice balance between Drum's abstract elements and their more pop-orientated dance-punk roots. Liars is a smaller record than its immediate predecessor, both in terms of conceptual scope and simple run-time (just over 39 minutes). But, the songs appear to be a bit stronger in their own right and not as dependent on album context when compared to those on Drum's. Most instantly appealing are the chilled-out electro pop numbers "Houseclouds" and "Sailing to Byzantium". The more rocking numbers are strong, too-- especially the thrashing opener and the balls-out rocker "Cycle Time". While there's no "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack" on the new album, the closing track "Protection" does a fine job considering the incredibly large shoes it had to fill by default. Over the next couple of months, you will surely hear a great deal about this album and I plan to give it plenty of spins.

As we are so far away from the album's release date, I'm only gonna post Pitchfork's stream of the opening track...

Stream expired :(