CD Reviews

Liars | WIXIW

Mute (2012)

By REYAN ALI | June 5, 2012

2.0 Stars

The sixth full-length from Brooklyn band Liars is an album in the sense that it's been recorded, has a release date, and is worth a review. But with so much improperly used space and so few tangible ideas, the result doesn't feel like an actual album as much as it does a decent demo. Pronounced "wish you," WIXIW deploys synthesizers and samplers to cook up Radiohead-esque tracks that could use a few jolts of inspiration. The starry-eyed "The Exact Colour of Doubt" sets the tone for WIXIW, which isn't a good thing. Specks of ambient fuzz slooowwwly fade in, a semblance of melody takes shape, handclaps stop by, and Angus Andrews croons in a sullen voice. By the time the instruments crescendo and things seem finally to be going somewhere, time's up — and it's on to the quiet, pulsating "Octagon," which squanders any previous momentum and sounds like it should have been an interlude. The stronger tracks stacked in the second half of the disc aren't enough to offset the stop-start pace of the whole. Yes, there are some colorful, more fully realized moments toward the end, but all the mumbling and fussing it takes to get there is murder.

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Active Child | You Are All I See
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Cloud Nothings | Attack on Memory
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You Me at Six | Sinners Never Sleep
Sinners Never Sleep is a transitional album, though such efforts rarely bode as well for the future as this does.
Imperial Teen | Feel the Sound
Like its title, fifth album Feel the Sound is as generic as doubters have probably always assumed — they sound both relaxed and exhausted.
Hospitality | Hospitality
On their homonymous debut, Hospitality sound like 800 different trendy bands at once (from Twin Sister to Tennis to TV on the Radio), so if it's pure originality you're after, you've come to the wrong department.
Brite Futures | Dark Past
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Air | Le Voyage Dans La Lune
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Schoolboy Q | Habits & Contradictions
Without much that can be considered "structure" in terms of the verse-chorus-verse standard, Q confidently wobbles through an album's worth of jaded bangers.
Mark Lanegan Band | Blues Funeral
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Grimes | Visions
The debut record from Grimes, an alias of the Montreal-based Boucher, kicks off the peculiarity parade by presenting song titles steeped in cutesy affectation.
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