Liars
Reviewed by Luke Winkie, Fri., May 2, 2014
Liars
Mess (Mute)To recap: 2001 debut They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top was noisy and angry, and so was its slightly more electronic follow-up, They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. 2006's Drum's Not Dead featured massive percussion and a sense of newfound nuance, while the following year's Liars was practically shoegaze, Sisterworld (2010) sounded like a band that just finished opening for Radiohead, and WIXIW (2012) was the dance disc. That brings us to Mess, the latest LP from a Brooklyn trio that shifts tone right before our eyes. On opener "Mask Maker," you'll hear a vocal edit and a spine-tapping build to a genuine warehouse rave. "Vox Turned D.E.D." adopts fog-burning dubstep to make a grownup's night out. It's the sound of a band getting over dance music growing pains and arriving at something natural. For a group that's never settled down, Mess could be described as Liars' comfort zone. (Fri., 12:45am, Levitation Tent)