Helmed by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
Angus Andrew, the restlessly experimental act
Liars never make the same album twice. During the 2000s and 2010s, they evolved from the arty dance-punks of 2001's
They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top into a project that transcended genres with every transformation. As they moved from place to place and sound to sound, they swung between vulnerability and aggression on each album -- and sometimes within the course of a single song. Their time in Berlin spanned the insular percussion experiments of 2006's
Drum's Not Dead to the postmodern biker rock of 2007's
Liars; while in Los Angeles, they celebrated the city's misfits on 2010's alternately claustrophobic and stark
Sisterworld and explored emotional confusion with delicate electronics and dream pop on 2012's WIXIW. No matter how their sound changed,
Liars exuded a sense of mystery and searching that was only heightened on 2017's
TFCF, the project's first album with Andrew as the sole member, and on the expansive collaborations of 2021's
The Apple Drop.
Liars' roots stretch back to late '90s Los Angeles, where Andrew, an Australian photography student at Cal Arts, met songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
Aaron Hemphill, a former microbiology student working at a local record store. The pair began working on 4-track recordings soon after, then moved to New York City. It was there that they responded to a musicians' wanted ad placed by bassist Pat Noecker, who'd previously played with Urethra Franklin and
Neuromancer, and drummer Ron Albertson, a former member of
Mercy Rule. By November 2000, the band was officially christened
Liars. Working with
Beastie Boys and
Lee "Scratch" Perry producer/engineer
Steve Revitte, they recorded their debut album
They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top in just two days. Upon its October 2001 release via
Gern Blandsten, the album's energetic dance-punk helped make a name for the band in New York's burgeoning early-2000s indie rock scene.
Liars signed to Mute Records, which released the EP
Fins to Make Us More Fish-Like in July 2002 and reissued
They Threw Us All in a Trench that September. After the release of the demos EP We No Longer Knew Who We Were, Noecker and Albertson left the band. The remaining half of
Liars recruited Andrew's former Cal Arts classmate
Julian Gross as drummer. They debuted as a trio with
Atheists, Reconsider, a split EP with
Oneida that appeared in December 2002 on Arena Rock Recording Co. The EP's experimental collages hinted at the more challenging direction
Liars took on their second album and first for Mute, 2004's
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. Recorded in a cabin in the forests of New Jersey with friend and co-producer Dave Sitek, it was inspired by experimental electronic music and German legends about witchcraft.
Liars then moved to Berlin and began work on their third album in an East German broadcast center. Their percussion experiments formed the backbone of 2006's
Drum's Not Dead, a concept album revolving around creativity and doubt accompanied by short films by the band and other filmmakers. On the following year's self-titled album,
Liars took a more stripped-down approach with more structured songwriting and a harder-edged sound.
Liars relocated to L.A. and took inspiration from the city's loners and outsiders for 2010's
Sisterworld, which mixed high-concept atmospherics with blistering outbursts and featured contributions from
Jon Brion collaborator
Tom Biller. That year,
Liars also joined
Beck's Record Club project and covered
INXS' 1987 album
Kick. To record their next album, the band wrote material in a cabin north of L.A. and worked with Mute founder
Daniel Miller in their private studio. The result was 2012's WIXIW (pronounced "wish you"), an introspective, relationship-focused set of songs draped in soft electronics that drew comparisons to their previous tourmates
Radiohead. The band did another about-face on the brash, industrial-tinged
Mess, which arrived in March 2014. After that album's release,
Gross left the band due to health issues that made touring and performing difficult, and
Hemphill departed
Liars amicably at the beginning of 2017. Andrew, the project's sole remaining member, relocated to a remote part of his native Australia, where he wrote songs that incorporated field recordings, acoustic guitar, and lyrics inspired by
Hemphill's departure and the death of his father. Those songs became
TFCF (short for "Theme from Crying Fountain"), which arrived in August 2017. Following the remix EP
VFCF (Variations from Crying Fountain) in early 2018, that July saw the release of
Liars' score to director
Jeremy Phillips' coming-of-age film
1/1, which Andrew and
Hemphill recorded in 2014 shortly after creating
Mess. That September, the
TFCF outtakes collection
Titles with the Word Fountain appeared. Early in 2020, Andrew remixed the track "Top Ticket" from the post-punk supergroup
P.E.'s debut album
Person, and contributed vocals to
Xiu Xiu's 2021 album
Oh No.
Liars resurfaced that August with their tenth effort,
The Apple Drop. Appearing 20 years after the project's debut, the album boasted collaborations with avant-garde jazz drummer
Laurence Pike, multi-instrumentalist
Cameron Deyell, and lyricist Mary Pearson Andrew as well as a more expansive approach than the
TFCF era. ~ Heather Phares