May 5, 2021 | 9:00am ET
Electronic punk outfit Liars has announced its new album The Apple Drop. It’s out August 6th on Mute, and you can catch a preview with lead single “Sekwar”.
When last we heard from Liars, Aaron Hemphill had amicably departed the band and Liars was the sole project of Angus Andrew. He put out 2017’s TCFC and 2018’s Titles with the Word Fountain with little outside assistance, but now Andrew has returned in a collaborative mood. The Apple Drop was made with avant-garde jazz drummer Laurence Pike, multi-instrumentalist Cameron Deyell, and lyricist Mary Pearson Andrew.
“For the first time I embraced collaboration from an early stage, allowing the work of others to influence the work of my own,” Andrew said in a statement. “My goal was to create beyond my abilities — something bigger than myself.”
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The songs were created through a combination of live instrument experimentation and lone computer tinkering. “Momentum and revolution were themes I wanted to explore,” he said, “To give the listener this sense of transformation and to feel like you were being transported through the wormhole.”
“Sekwar” accomplishes this with honking synths and playfully off-kilter drums, which tend to start a measure with a standard rock beat, briefly pause, and close on a hurried triplet. Andrew opens the song with his voice pitched to spoken word. “They tell me I’m a juiced up, worn out sad sack,” he says. “Who can’t figure out what I’m trying to do here except stand around and be a dick.” But that’s just the first step on a journey of self-exploration.
The song comes with a music video directed by Clemens Habicht. It dramatizes the action of the lyrics, showing Andrew climbing through a tunnel. As the music swells, the confined tunnels open up, and Andrew explores cavernous spaces with the help of otherworldly lighting. You can check it out below. Pre-orders for The Apple Drop are ongoing.
The Apple Drop Artwork:
The Apple Drop Tracklist:
01. The Start
02. Slow and Turn Inward
03. Sekwar
04. Big Appetite
05. From What the Never Was
06. Star Search
07. My Pulse to Ponder
08. Leisure War
09. King of the Crooks
10. Acid Crop
11. New Planets New Undoings