The Liars 'Drum’s Not Dead' album

LIARS release a brand new album, Drum’s Not Dead, on March 21, 2006. The album is preceded by a single, “It Fit When I Was A Kid,” out on December 13, 2006. A North American tour is scheduled for late spring. Drum’s Not Dead, the band’s third album and the follow up to 2004’s They Were Wrong, So We Drowned was partly inspired by a relocation from New York to Berlin. It finds Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross taking another seismic step forward, switching continents and seizing new musical territory. It's also their finest and fullest album to date, shredding all past reference points.

Drum’s Not Dead comes loaded with its own cinematic sister project: a DVD with three film versions of the album, Drum’s Not Bread (directed by Julian Gross), The Helix Aspersa (directed by Angus Andrew) and By Your Side (by award-winning filmmaker Markus Wambsganss). Each film is comprised of videos for each track on the album: that’s 36 videos in total. From backstage travelogues to surreal animation and mini sci-fi epics, Liars document the process of recording, touring, then visually reinventing each track. It’s an ambitious and groundbreaking expansion of the album format, throwing down the gauntlet for other creatively ambitious bands to follow suit.

The album’s title and several track names refer to two fictional characters: Drum and Mount Heart Attack. For the band they are like Yin and Yang, each a state of being. Drum is assertive and productive, the spirit of creative confidence. With two drum kits integral to many of these percussive, propulsive, highly rhythmic convulsions, Drum came to be acknowledged as a fourth member of the band. Conversely, Mount Heart Attack is the reaction to Drum’s action, the embodiment of stress and self-doubt. Both became key elements in the creative process.

Drum’s Not Dead marks a major shift for Liars, tracks like “Drum And The Uncomfortable Can” build to a symphonic crescendo of brooding, brutal intensity yet the album ends with “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack,” the most perversely conventional and unashamedly beautiful Liars track ever written. The calm after the storm, quietly moving and totally unexpected.

“People know we like to change and what’s important for us is the challenge,” says Angus. “This time around, the challenge was to really try and simplify and be a bit more traditional, which is something a lot of people wouldn’t expect. But for me it’s more difficult to make a song than it is to make noise.”

One album, 12 tracks, 36 films. Every one a winner. And that’s no lie.

“There are very few bands around at the moment that possess the kind of wit, imagination and guts to make sure that every time they release a record it sounds nothing like their last. Thank God, then, for Liars” - Pat Long, NME

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Tags

Details

Popular Songs

New Songs

The Liars - Drum’s Not Dead