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CultureCritic talks to Liars...
CultureCritic | 03.March.2010 | 14:01
Just ahead of the release of their fifth album, Sisterworld, Liars' Angus Andrew (vocals) and Aaron Hemphill (guitar) spoke to CultureCritic about album design, collaborations and David Lynch.Liars have produced a number of broadly conceptual albums in the past. Does Sisterworld have a central theme and if so, how would you describe it?
ANGUS ANDREW: We were interested in the ways people deal with a lack of connection with their surroundings, and how people cope with isolation in a massive city like LA.
AARON HEMPHILL: Also, the alternative spaces people create in an effort to deal with society while keeping their individual voice or character intact and expressed. There are many different perspectives around this, such as alienation or violence. There are also the harsh or superficial judgments that accompany these expressions, which we cover as well.
What kind of an influence has returning to Los Angeles had on Liars' music after your time spent in Berlin?
AA: It was like an explosion of input. All sorts of media and immediacy. In Berlin we were isolated from interaction by language and the sense of everything [being] foreign. It was good for a more internalised approach to songwriting; but in LA, everything is familiar and disturbing at the same time.
AH: The very widely spread and accepted stereotype of Los Angeles is that it is fake, full of palm trees and rich bimbos eating salad and starring in some sort of Hollywood pilot or sitcom. While all of the negatives [about LA that] we cover on our album exist elsewhere [too], this stereotype underlines the stark contrast between reality and illusion. For example, Detroit or Cleveland can be very violent and lonely places, but there is no incentive for a completely opposing image of either city to be generated globally like there is of LA.
Sisterworld's packaging is elaborately designed to create an optical illusion when you open it out and look into it, and it features medieval looking objects on the cover. Please could you tell us a little bit about the design and how it relates to the music?
AH: We allowed our friend and designer Brian Roettinger to develop his own concept based on the themes we shared with him. The front object is what is referred to as a ‘speakeasy', or peephole. Where one exists, there will always be another side. It is a space separated from the one from which you are viewing. The nature [that you see] can seem an ideal surrounding to escape to, or it may even seem like we (the band) are out of place. Depends on the person looking through the door.
AA: During the last stages of recording we took a trip up the Californian coast and left all the music behind. We wanted to better understand the ideas we were expressing by removing ourselves from the city and placing ourselves in stark environments. We documented this experience and the resulting images are what can be seen inside the cover.
Sisterworld comes with a bonus disc featuring a remix of each song by a variety of musicians ranging from Devendra Banhart to Boyd Rice. Please could you tell us a little bit about how these collaborations came to be, and if there's one that's particularly special for you?
AA: We wanted to explore the possibilities of collaboration and this thing called a ‘remix'. It seems such a formulaic process: songs are generally transformed from rock to dance by a well known DJ or producer. We thought about artists we admire who could give another voice to this idea.
AH: We found, after some thought, that if we urge artists whom we love to reinterpret the songs - giving them full freedom to create their own ideas from our music - that it would fit with the theme of creating an alternative to what is offered, based on individual perspective.
Your fourth, eponymously titled album took a far more stripped-down approach than the two that preceded it. Was it intended to function as ‘year zero' point from which the group could orientate itself in the direction of what has become Sisterworld?
AA: No, not really. That album was more like an experiment in non-meaning. In the end, it helped us understand what we enjoy about making records. Basically we tried to strip away all the meaning so that the music would have more voice, but in the end we realised that giving an album life is what is fun. In that way Sisterworld is a return to what we enjoy - giving a record a life of its own.
AH: We fully immerse ourselves in each album we do. With Liars, we wanted to release the album as quickly as possible after it had been written, in hope of keeping the material fresh for ourselves. With Sisterworld we [began to] miss developing a central theme and the places that [doing so] could take our music. We allowed ourselves more time for development as a result.
Are there any other artworks that you feel explore a similar theme to Sisterworld, whether successfully or unsuccessfully? David Lynch is a reference point that gets thrown about quite carelessly, but his work does seem like it could be relevant to what you've done here.
AH: I don't think any of us are Lynch fanatics to the point where it informs our music. I like some of his work a lot, some of it not so much. I think the thing he does really well is allow viewers to think for themselves, generating the fear or connections in their own minds and therefore making it more personal and terrifying. He's notoriously secretive regarding the meanings of certain things in his films. I think there's a delicate balance of disclosure when talking about the meaning or inspiration of songs. I'm finding that I don't truly agree with complete silence, but [at the same time] too much information may create [an image that competes with] the listener's.
Your second album, They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, was a ‘story album' about witchcraft. Have Liars ever taken inspiration from non-musical sources?
AA: I think most of our inspiration comes from the everyday output of society: TV, newspapers, radio - basically just sucking it all up and digesting the shock. We certainly are into literature, film and art but I think that immediate cultural signifiers influence our music more than anything overtly intellectual.
AH: We are always recording information. False news reports, Hamlet, concussions - all are given equal opportunity to inform our music.
It's been nearly ten years since Liars got together. Did you envision the group becoming as prolific as you are?
AH: No, we couldn't afford to think so far ahead. We try to appreciate whatever position we have obtained by making the best work we are capable of. We make each record like it's our first one.
AA: To me it has felt like each album has taken us a step further into the unknown. Each time we find out [more about] who we are, the less it feels like we know what we are doing.
Liars are a group who seem uncommonly open to multimedia exploration. Which projects would you most like to undertake over the next few years?
AH: Angus is an exceptional writer, so maybe he will write a book one day. I'd like to make a movie before I die. Julian could take over from Jay Leno or the Twilight actor. We want to play our best for people that come to our concerts and keep writing songs we believe in.
Liars - Sisterworld is released on Mute on 8th March 2010. To see the latest reviews, click here.
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