Show review: Liars at Paradise Rock Club – 7/24
Brooklyn’s experimental post-punk/noise rockers Liars brought their tour in support of new album WIXIW to the Paradise last Tuesday, with an opening set from Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
Much like listening to most Liars records, seeing a Liars show is a somewhat tense, unnerving experience. The music takes unexpectedly frightening turns, the volume jumps from minimal to earsplitting in the blink of an eye with zero warning, and the band does whatever it can to keep the listener on their toes. Your typical casual indie rock show? No. A consistently thrilling sonic head-trip? Absolutely.
Judging by the name and my own unfamiliarity with openers Unknown Mortal Orchestra, I was picturing something along the lines of a seven or eight member post-rock crew. Instead, the Orchestra is a modest three-piece who peddle compact, upbeat psych-rock. The songs were mostly short bursts of head-bobbing rhythms and fuzzed-out guitar. Much credit to frontman Ruban Nielson for putting a small arsenal of effects pedals to good use and drawing an impressive range of sounds from his guitar rig. The trio wasn’t big on stage presence, but they put on a solid show regardless.
Liars were up next, with a stage setup dominated by two sizeable consoles of synths and samplers. The guitars and basses were around of course, but stowed away for later. The emphasis of the set’s opening was squarely on the heavily electronic material from WIXIW, a dramatic departure from the noisy chaos of earlier Liars albums. WIXIW has been called their Kid A – a deconstructed, abstract answer to a career of mostly guitar-based music. The comparison is fair, as this new record explores thoroughly unexpected territory for the band. These are songs based largely in subtle grooves and atmosphere. It may not be as immediate as their earlier work, but with time it proves just as engaging.
Seven of WIXIW’s eleven tracks made appearances, showcasing a more restrained and introspective side of the band than many fans were used to. The crowd’s reaction to the new material was polite, but less than rapturous. Still, the trio confidently powered on with no sense of shyness or compromise toward their shift in direction. Instead, they used it to structure the set to their advantage. Moody set openers “The Exact Color of Doubt” and “Octagon” had the audience relaxed until a heavily percussive track from Drum’s Not Dead immediately chased any calmness from the room. The whole band took up the vocal swell of “Let’s Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack” simultaneously. Frontman Angus Andrew was in the middle of a sentence at the time. It was near silence to wailed vocals, pounding drums and a churning drone of skull-piercing noise in practically the blink of an eye. The band would build on that sense of unpredictability throughout the night, springing the most vicious moments when they were least expected. The punch of the already rather unsettling “Scarecrows On a Killer Slant” was heightened by the spike in volume of Aaron Hemphill’s guitar making me physically jump.
Liars are at a point in their career where they’ve covered enough stylistic ground to pull off a truly diverse and impressive live show. Samplings from their eighties-indebted post-punk, raging noise rock, haunted electronics and genre-eluding experimental sides were all brought together in a distinctly Liars fashion. Andrew, Hemphill and drummer Julian Gross all switched instruments multiple times throughout the night, lending things a further air of variability and proving each of their individual strengths as musicians. Gross and Hemphill work with a quiet intensity, but Andrew embraces a slightly more manic approach. He’s not your typical showman, but an undeniable performer nonetheless.
Liars aren’t your typical rock band anyway. They may get press coverage similar to Pitchfork indie darlings, but they’re a much different breed. They never stop pushing boundaries in their sound, and they’re admirably unafraid to alienate both the music consuming public and their own fans. Those who stick around between the stylistic shifts which seem to arrive with each new record are always treated to something new and certifiably original. Luckily, these traits which make Liars a compelling band on record do the same for them live. It’s the synthesis of their many and disparate sounds and their willingness to push the envelope which combine with their intensity as performers to make theirs a show worth seeking out.
