A-ha. This is a weird one and no mistake. LIARS are undoubtedly one of the US eastern seaboard’s (Hell, anywhere’s…) stranger exports for some time, and, by titling their debut album “They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top”, they’ve already given themselves a lot to live up to.
Actually, of the three tracks here, opener “Pulse” is the only one that truly grabs your reviewer by the extremities and tweaks gleefully. Despite its’ (seriously) oddball zombie jazz intro, it’s really cool the way the band’s chant of “Can you Hear us???” builds until the intro proper scythes in and “Pulse” grooves in on a neurotic, post-rock wave with jagged funk injections that remind of nothing more than a primal take of early, special GANG OF FOUR. Besides, any band that introduce themselves via a song kicking off “We’ve got our finger on the pulse of America” get my attention immediately.
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“Shake” and “Magical”, though, are murky and impenetrable. The former induces migraine via what sounds like a car alarm sample and a rush of paranoia worthy of THE POP GROUP at their most irritating. “Magical” is slightly better, with crazy splashes, detonations and harmonics all challenging a funky drummer riding his hi-hat as though his life depends on it.
Whether LIARS will turn out a bastard, linear rock troupe or just exasperating Math rockers or (worse) plain ordinary are questions that remain unanswered by this unfocussed sprawl of an EP. “Pulse” alone, suggests that something wicked might be coming this way, but until the album proper this rates a hard-won 6.
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