The first music from Aaron Hemphill since he left
Liars in 2016,
Nonpareils'
Scented Pictures lives up to its name -- it's a sensory blur that's equally bewildering and intriguing. To make the album, Hemphill used intentionally strange and "wrong" recording techniques, and the resulting deconstructed electropop comprises sounds many would dismiss as too fast, too slow, too noisy, or too soft. "The Timeless Now" could have been recorded during a glitch in the matrix; "Ditchglass, They Think" manages to be jaunty and squelchy at the same time; and the thrumming "Invisible Jets" delivers improbably atonal pop. Unsurprisingly, the album's hallucinatory atmosphere calls to mind some of the washy oddness of later
Liars albums like WIXIW and
Sisterworld. In its own way, however,
Scented Pictures is often more challenging than the work of Hemphill's previous band. As strange as
Liars get, their intensity keeps their music focused in a way that Hemphill never attempts as
Nonpareils, and moments like "Fast Hat, Main Hat" sometimes feel distracting in their lack of purpose. Fortunately,
Scented Pictures' relatively catchy songs are slightly less disorienting than its tangents; at their best, they can be as sweet as the project's namesake candy sprinkles. Once it gets going, "Makes Me Miss the Misery Girls" bounces along on a syrupy half-speed melody; "Press Play" could be a chopped and screwed
Gary Numan song; and the title track eventually reaches a strange state of bliss that matches the most rapturous moments of Hemphill's former group. While not all
Liars fans will be willing to go on this strange trip with him,
Scented Pictures proves he's as committed to challenging his listeners as ever. ~ Heather Phares