Liars - 'WIXIW'

LIARS
WIXIW

Mute, 2012

• favorites:

  "Ring On Every Finger," "His And Mine Sensations"

• flavors:

  MAOI inhibitors, green lazers, GHB

RATING:

TRACK LIST:

• The Exact Colour Of Doubt
• Octogon
• No. 1 Against The Rush
• A Ring On Every Finger
• Ill Valley Prodigies
• Wixiw
• His And Mine Sensations
• Flood To Flood
• Who Is The Hunter
• Brats
• Annual Moon Words

I wonder if this record was fun to make. Probably yes, at first, and then no, during the middle, and then yes, again, when it was done. I’m trying to imagine being in Liars and listening to our new album, WIXIW, over and over again after we finished mastering it, and I can’t help but feel proud of myself, feel like such a fucking genius.

Liars’ new album is maybe their most subtle, quietest, or nuanced. I guess the idea is that this is their electronic album. It sort of sounds like Radiohead, I guess, except a million times better for the fact that Liars is that much funkier. It sort of sounds like Kraftwerk, but geared towards humans and not machines. At times, it sounds like what Nine Inch Nails could have been, if Academy Award Winner Trent Reznor had stayed scary. All these comparisons are kind of bullshit though, because WIXIW does sound fully original and unique, they just do a better job of covering terrain explored by other bands. The songs sound boney, focusing on a handful of tricks or sounds in any given track, but everything feels perfectly in place. A queasy synth horn carries the hook on “Ring On Every Finger,” while Angus drones in a faux-somnolent chant that builds in layers. It’s smart music for smart people, but probably annoying to put together. How exactly to make the drums shuffle like the sound of dead-leaves while at a late-night eastern European disco? It’s probably hard, but Liars did it.