Liars: ‘We Wanted To Attack The Electronics’

Australian native Angus Andrew talks to DOUG WALLEN about yet another change in direction from Liars, as well as their multimedia yen, bold videos and infamous eeriness. Photo by ZEN SEKIZAWA.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

After 2010’s visionary Sisterworld confirmed in Liars a second wind – or is that third or fourth? – the slippery trio prove only too happy to surprise again with WIXIW (“wish you”). Setting down their usual instruments to plunge into a realm of computer-made electronics, Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross have crafted a sixth album that’s both disciplined and immersive. From the dance-fixated ‘Brats’ to the controlled turbulence of ‘Octagon’, it’s all purring surfaces and nearly paranoid alertness. Lead single ‘No. 1 Against the Rush’ curdles placid synth-pop into soundtrack-y menace, while other tracks recall Warp’s fractured back catalogue as much as Radiohead’s post-Kid A take on it.

Let’s talk about the record. Guitar has been downplayed a lot and it’s more electronic. Is there a story behind how that happened?
We decided when we began the record that we wanted to attack the electronics within the computer software world. That was one of the biggest challenges. One of the goals was to really figure out how to use that kind of gear and make a lot of the sounds within the computer.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Did you have a certain thing in mind, or was it more just exploration?
Really just exploration. Just looking for new ways of making sounds. Particularly I was interested in sounds more than songs, as opposed to some of the recent records, where I think I was trying to figure out the whole thing of being a songwriter. This time around I realised that what I’m actually interested in is not necessarily songs in the traditional way. What interests me is interesting sounds.

Does that change the role of what each of you does live?
Yeah. It’s just a bloody nightmare, to be honest, trying to figure out how to get this album onto the stage. Because so many of the sounds we created were, in a lot of instances, just one-offs. Maybe a more experienced electronic artist would have saved pre-sets and things like that. I neglected to do a lot of that. A lot of the sounds I’m still trying to figure out how we made them. It’s certainly much more challenging than just getting up on stage with a guitar, bass and drums.

You said you’re more interested in sound but I think there’s still a real pop element to the record. There’s this chanting thing in the vocals. This repetition.
Yeah. That sort of sense, in a way, is secondary. Obviously we could have made complete soundscapes and stuff like that, but that’s the real challenge. We spent a lot of time experimenting with sounds and developing this large bank of really interesting stuff. But the point where it gets interesting is where you try and utilise sounds and create songs. Which is definitely a different way than we normally do it. Normally you’d sit down and develop a melody using a piano or a guitar and then you inject interesting sounds after that. In this process it was the reverse: we had a bunch of really great sounds and really no songs and no melodies. It’s coming from the other end, where the weird, abstract sound comes first and then it’s trying to figure out something that will work with that or do justice, really, to that sound.

You guys have these attention-grabbing videos that are a step above most, like for ‘Scissor’ and ‘No. 1 Against the Rush’. Is that another thing where you’re trying to marry sound to something else?
Well, first of all, I think we’re all pretty creative people just even apart from music. And visually things are generally important to us. But in terms of those videos, there’s a point also where I have to acknowledge the directors we get involved with. When you put out the word that you want to do a video for a certain song, you get a ton of these treatments. And a lot of them are really, really off the mark. Like surprisingly off the mark. So our role is really trying to find that one that is right. And there’s a lot of ways you can go wrong that way.

Is there an example of some that were off the mark?
It’s just ideas that seem so disconnected with not only what you were imagining, but what you think people should imagine in relation to what you made. It’s definitely an interesting part because when you’ve written a song, you want to allow for this element of creativity in the listener’s mind. So in a way it’s nice to hear people going off on tangents. But there are ideas that, to me, are so off the mark that it’s hard to imagine how they got to that position.

I watched the video teasers for the album and I was interested in this idea of the band as a multimedia art project, where every aspect of it is something for creativity to play a part. Whether it’s the song titles or these teasers or the album artwork. Is that how you see it at all?
Definitely. When we met at art school [Cal Arts] here in Los Angeles, I was there for photography. That was when I first started playing music and thinking about this idea of a band. And really it occurred to me that, yeah, being in a band was like the most multimedia platform in the arts. You’d be doing performance and then you’d be doing graphic design and then you’d be writing lyrics, which all comes under the same umbrella. That’s the reason why it’s interesting. I’m sure if it was just music I’d still be into it, but the fact that it involves so many other things is what really keeps it exciting.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Do you still do photography much on your own?
Yeah. You would have seen a lot of the stuff I have been doing on that Tumblr. Stupid photos of, like, a broom with microphones attached to it.

Besides the album title representing this phrase “wish you,” are you interested in the fact that it’s a palindrome and could also reference Roman numerals?
The palindrome part of it was always something that really drew me to it. I think this idea of beginning somewhere and ending in the same place is, in the real world, sometimes seen as a negative result. But I think creatively and especially in relation to our process, that’s actually a real positive result. In relation to this record, we began in a certain place and we went through this very difficult process of learning how to use the computer in this way. In the end we came out in a really similar spot. It’s not like we’ve become these complete computer people who forever now will be making particularly that kind of music. It’s indicative of the way we work [that] you go into something like an album and you go through an incredible experience, but in the end you come out the other side and it’s not like you’ve really changed course that much. So I like that idea of the palindrome. I’m not so cued in on the Roman numeral but I think visually, just beside the meaning of the word, it’s a very strong and striking thing. We really didn’t want to use that as a title, and I think at some point we just resigned to the power of it, where we couldn’t deny it.

“It’s not like we’ve become these complete computer people who forever now will be making particularly that kind of music.”

With Sisterworld, there were themes that tied the songs together, like looking at people’s identity in society. Is there anything like that at work on this record?
Yeah, it’s interesting. Generally the way we do work is, we come up with some sort of idea like we did on Sisterworld, where we focus on something to analyse a bit and allow everything to revolve around that. Which I think on that record was Los Angeles and the people here. What happened with this record is that we left that space blank and for the first time, really, the subject matter turned inward. It was interesting for us because in the past, maybe, we’ve used this idea of subject matter as a sort of shield to avoid this personal stuff coming. You project onto other things. So really, for the first time, it was this inward look, a lot to do with this process of learning a new thing. And really, for me, everything started to revolve around this doubt and fear of what we were doing. A kind of anxiety about it that, I think, really comes out in the lyrics in a lot of ways. There’s just a lot of contradictions in what we’re saying. There’s songs where you want to be near to someone and then, within the same song maybe [ed – as on the title track], you don’t want to be with them. This kind of back and forth. For me, overall the record exemplifies this doubt and fear.

So making music with computers put you out of your comfort zone, and because you didn’t have that safety you were able to delve into things you’ve shied away from before?
Exactly. I don’t think I normally want to reveal that making the record was difficult or frightening. We’re just not the kind of band where you finish the record and you pop a bottle of champagne or whatever. It’s a difficult thing and it’s never like a certainty. It’s never like we exorcise all our demons doing it. It’s always a very scary proposition, and I think this is the first time we let that creep into the subject matter.

There’s often this eerie quality to Liars songs. How aware of that are you? Do you play up to that or ever try to get away from it?
I don’t think so. I don’t know if I’m that aware of that, although I am aware that people find that about our music. What happens naturally, really, is what happens. It’s not something I really considered trying to avoid. I suppose there could be some situation where we decide, “Look, let’s try to make something that’s happy or shiny,” but I think it would have to be a goal.

Do you any idea when you’ll come to Australia on tour?
We’re hoping to be there at the end of the year. That’s the plan, at least.

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‘WIXIW’ is out tomorrow (June 1) on Mute/EMI.