Transient, experimental rockers continue to reward, evolve
Geography has always defined Liars. The band—which formed in Los Angeles with a menacing Australian frontman named Angus Andrew—first received attention after relocating to New York. Liars would later make an album in New Jersey that was loosely based on German witchcraft, only to actually move to Berlin for their next album.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, Liars’ return to Los Angeles had a profound effect on the band’s fifth LP, Sisterworld. Concerned with grand existential ideas such as Identity Vs. Society and how weirdos and individuals can get along with the masses, the record might as well be the soundtrack to Liars’ big-screen biopic. Featuring a mix of straight-ahead rockers (“The Overachievers”), willfully abrasive headbangers (“Scarecrows On a Killer Slant”) and gorgeously ominous odes (“No Barrier Fun”), Sisterworld is petulant, rewarding and ultimately lonely. It’s a record that refuses to pick a style or lock step with the world that exists around it, much like the band that created it.