Overall, Liars deserve an award for most improved Williamsburg neo no-wave band. I used to think the Brooklyn-to-Berlin group was an obnoxious snoreful, but on last year's They Were Wrong, So We Drowned the boys unveiled a stirring drone-o-rific direction. At the time, those expecting more of the same-old panned the collection, and since that time the resentment has seemingly deepened.
Ignoring these unadventurous critics, It Fit When I Was a Kid, a four-song EP, finds the trio of Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill, and Julian Gross trudging in a similar direction, perhaps with less punch in the percussion. But then, it's impossible to guess whether this single is indicative of the band's forthcoming full-length, Drum's Not Dead-- it just doesn't give us much to chew on. The EP's contents are the title track and its technocrat remix, plus two minimalist non-album pieces, and low-budget videos for the three non-remix tracks. (The 7" contains the title track and its remix.)
From its timing to its packaging, the thing's an obvious stocking stuffer (check cupid-struck Santa on the back, crossed candy canes, sliced fruitcake) and its made-for-collectors censored gay-porn cover art PhotoShopped by Julian Gross will get more press than it deserves. Such is the general reaction to penises. If you want to see it uncensored, you can get a full art cover on edible paper from the band's website.
Musically, the lead track's a deep-space sea of vocal drone and plodding drums. Andrew's voice echoes, and occasionally his intonation-- "We were walking in the snow/ Down the street from your front door/ I jumped the neighbors' fence at dawn/ Danced my way across your lawn" -- lands in the area of newest A.R.E. Weapons single, "Weakest Ones". Only, this doesn't suck. Actually, for its seeming tepidness, it's somehow addictive. The sound of a malleted diamond has us thinking of "crystals flying everywhere." A spooky organ introduces the song's shadowy lumen-tree half led by Turkish delight falsetto. It's murkily seamless and understated, and denser than it appears on a first or second listen: A Christmas carol for the restless dead?
The considerably rockier "The Frozen Glacier Of Mastodon Blood" lacks the opener's fluidity, though the Big Black-style drums are nice. "Bingo! Count Draculuck" turns up the echo for a repeated query, "Are you all right?"-- its ambient drone, factory-dub percussion, and video game blasts are ultimately nondescript. Finally, "It Fit When I Was a Kid (Don't Techno For An Answer)" fractures the original then dumps thump-thump-thump atop, burying things in 12 inches of snow.
This nibble has me intrigued, but also kinda bored (again). I'm hoping Liars lodge a few more pieces like "It Fit When I Was a Kid" on the LP; if the supporting tracks are an indication, though, there's reason to nod off. Going with my gut, those lesser tracks ring more like filler than future promises, so let's keep faith and expect Drum's Not Dead to offer something sublime.
