Liars make a beautiful Mess

SINGAPORE — What constitutes experimental rock music in 2014?

For the connoisseur, it is still possible to scratch beneath the superficiality of much of modern rock to discover pockets of ambitious, experimental music that continues to be made by iconoclastic musicians.

Take Liars, for example. The trio, comprising Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross, have developed into a musical unit that demands respect for the manner in which they approach music.

Their latest album, Mess, finds the band exploring the possibilities of electronic music and traces the evolution of the Liars’ sound from 2010’s sparse Sisterworld to the dense concepts of 2012’s WIXIW.

“I haven’t considered this idea of the music becoming more ‘dense’. It certainly hasn’t been a conscious or strategic goal,” said Andrew. “Instead, I think it might best be explained by pointing toward our tools. Over the last few records, we’ve become more and more adept with the computer as an instrument. This allows for a plethora of sounds at your fingertips and an unending array of options. I’m sure this has contributed to the overall density of our recent work.”

Some critics regard Mess as a sequel of sorts to WIXIW. While he didn’t disagree, Andrew stressed that the processes of making the two albums were diametrically opposed. “WIXIW was a long, drawn out and laboured endeavour wrought with doubt and fear. Mess, on the other hand, was super fast, super fun and relatively easy to produce. We used practically the same tools in a similar environment but created something I feel is almost completely different. In some ways I see it as a resolution to some of the anxieties and problems we struggled with in the making of WIXIW.”

Andrew explained that immediacy was a big thing for them. “We wanted the work to be instinctual, as opposed to some our past work which has felt very cerebral,” he said. “Our goal was to have fun with the opportunities at hand rather than to obsess over uncertainties”.

Interestingly, he also admitted that the band did not take into account the listeners’ emotional response when making Mess. “We make music to express ourselves, not necessarily to illicit a pre-determined response from our audience.”

Listening to Mess, it is hard to ignore the visceral nature of many of the tracks — there are dark and disturbing themes floating around — which, according to Andrew, is basically what makes up Liars’ music. “Anxiety, fear and paranoia. Despite our many stylistic shifts, these ideas remain prevalent from our first record to now.”

There is, however, one major difference. “For the first time, we’ve been able to take these ‘issues’ and parlay them into something entirely more positive and beneficial, to develop strength from weakness and positivity from uncertainty. It’s a mental breakthrough!”

Fans of Liars will be pleased to know that the band intends to continue their electronic music journey. “I still feel like an absolute novice in electronic music,” Andrew declared. “Sometimes, I find this notion to be incredibly inspirational for the mere fact that there is still so much to learn and to explore. At other times, I find myself overwhelmed with the amount of technical proficiency involved and consequently disheartened by how much I still really have to learn.”

Liars’ new album, Mess, is available now at record stores and digital platforms.