Liars – Sisterworld

Living in a World of Liars

Only Liars could collide romanticism and desolation to create an album so beautiful that it sends 100 little waves rolling down your spine. Sisterworld, the band’s fifth album, pulls no punches yet is still able to appear lovable and controlled.

“Scissors,” the opening track, manhandles the senses; it eases its listener into a state of despondency before blasting them with an almighty battery of rhythmic slur. This is too much for some, but it’s just the beginning. What ensues is the most exciting, clashing, and dominating 42 minutes that many will ever musically experience.

There is nothing conventional about Liars’ approach to the modern album. It complies to no predictable beats of melodies; in fact, finding a consistent melody is no small feat. But what the band has done in 42 minutes is more than so many modern bands manage over the span of their careers. Sisterworld is an album of musical relevance in today’s world, and is a record of pure, unadulterated emotion in its most raw state.

Here, Liars have produced a timeless collection of confused and terrified compositions that almost defy mainstream radio airplay, and rightly so. They are chillingly real, and it could almost be that such a large audience would damage them and make them less special. No two pieces of this album fit together perfectly. It is the audio equivalent to a box of leftover puzzle pieces, not one conforming to the other, not one caring whether it should be there or not.

Sisterworld is an amalgam of desolate, thoughtful lyrics and enormous rhythmic spasms, becoming a stark cityscape that keeps growing and receding, building and falling, much like the cities of today.