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| Liars - Mess
Why you'll like it: Lairs catchiest album
Why you'll hate it: Loses steam in second half
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For all of the changes in sound Liars has made over the years, they’re fundamentally a band rooted in working against what people want. After a hard hitting debut, they saw the rising trend of dance-punk in the early 00’s, and decided to walk away from it. What followed was a pair of albums so murky and plodding, to this day I still can’t get into them. I know people love 2006’s Drum’s Not Dead. I’m just not one of them. When Liars rose from the depths in the late 00's to make a pair of albums that sound like music again, they came off like a modern day Diogenes. They show up to the indie rock parties that experimental/art bands have to much pride to participate in, and make a complete mess of it. 2012’s WIXIW ventured into a more discernible, electronic sound, but with a lot more atmosphere. Some of WIXIW was just plain scary in its lack of clarity. It was The Shape, and those of us left to pitch or explain it came off sounding like Dr. Loomis.
Liars aren’t done with electronics. They’re only getting closer to the dance floor with Mess. With any other band, you’d think this would be a sign of going more mainstream; but Lairs are still finding ways to create abrasive and disturbing imagery despite stepping into the light. The opening track, “Mask Maker” mixes a sick (as in, “yah bro” cool) glitched out techno beat with a sick (as in gross and scary) garbled voice making perverted/violent requests. Since 2010’s Sisterworld, Liars has had an obsession with bringing dread and grime into a civilized world. Mess is their most clear realization of that.
Mess is a top-heavy album; which is usually something that annoys me, but the songs blend together so well, I can’t really blame them for it. “Mask Maker” starts off strong, and “Vox Tuned D.E.D.” just drops even heaver bombs; but it lets off just enough in the end for “I’m No Gold” to creep in and make its mark. The second half of “I’m No Gold” introduces an organ which ends up being the foundation of “Pro Anti Anti”. The transitions in these songs are brilliant. It’s the most on a roll I’ve ever seen this band with an album.
After that, there are a couple misses. “Can’t Hear Well” is a poor man’s version of WIXIW's title track. Angus' monotone vocals work best as a juxtaposition to the insane sounds being made by Liars. When the melodies are stale, the vocals just drag it down more. This is the same fault “Boyzone” has. These songs aren't terrible, but do drag what could have been an otherwise non-stop mind blowing album. While Mess never regains its stride after the first four tracks, “Dress Walker” an “Mess on A Mission” do their best to leave a mark. “Dress Walker”, with its strange Gary Numan synthesized vocals, pounding electric drum, and looping sequencers at the end, was when I came to a realization. “Oh my god, this is Killer7, the album.” Well… I guess, if Killer7 didn’t already have a soundtrack… Anyway, Mess is a total joy to listen to, without taking anything from Liars' twisted reputation. Liars' style usually just wallows in its own filth and requires you to come to it. Mess comes to you and dumps it all over your clean kitchen floor.
Who knows where Liars can go from here? Back into their cave? “Perpetual Village” has a familiar melody to it that reminds me of their self titled album. The final track, “Left Speaker Blown”, sounds like this synthesized machine that has fueled Liars for two albums is powering down. If this is the end of experimenting with electronics, what a success its been.
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[END OF THE YEAR UPDATE] - While the high points of this album still excite me, the low points have only gotten worse. I also miss how creepy and vague WIXIW was, making this album vastly inferior. Still a 2014 standout, but I think my initial explosion of joy has died down quite a bit.
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