Liars is an experimental electro/rock band formed in 2000. Australian-born … Read Full Bio ↴Liars is an experimental electro/rock band formed in 2000. Australian-born Angus Andrew is the founding and only constant member with Aaron Hemphill (percussion, guitar, synth) leaving the project in 2017 and Julian Gross (drums) no longer is able to perform due to personal reasons. The band has released 8 studio albums since forming and remains one of the few bands still consistently active from the post-punk revival scene in New York of 2000s.

Although initially lumped into the New York dance-punk scene of the early 21st century, they have come to be categorized by their dramatic stylistic shifts between albums, while retaining a consistent interest in rhythm and sound texture. Liars are one of the many contemporary bands to draw from the late 1970's British post-punk movement. Their first album, 2002's They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, bore some resemblance to the work of Delta 5 and Gang of Four, accenting their angular, acerbic punk with modern synths and drum machines. Liar's second album, 2004's They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, eschewed their debut's trendy post-punk aesthetic in favor of dissonant atmospherics and electronic soundscapes more akin to the sound of This Heat. That album stratified fans and critics alike, especially chafing with those who took to They Threw Us All for the clear dance/punk leanings of a number of that album's tracks (e.g. "We Live Northeast of Compton"). 2006 saw the release of Drum's Not Dead., which continued the direction they had taken with They Were Wrong but was met with a much more favorable critical reaction. 2007's self-tited LP, Liars, found the band once again shifting styles, this time towards 60's style garage rock and 70's proto-punk, all through the dark, effects-driven prism that Liars began channeling on They Were Wrong. While more straight-forward than their previous 2 LPs, the record contained the same focus on rhythm and experimentation with the deconstruction of traditional sounds. Similar to Drum's Not Dead. Liars was critically praised and found its way on to Best of 2007 lists. They released Sisterworld, in 2010, which continued in their experimental post-punk direction. Its deluxe edition came with a completely remixed version of the album, with tracks being remixed by artists such as Thom Yorke, Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead and Carter Tutti. In 2012, they released WIXIW, which saw the band take an almost entirely electronic direction with their music.

On January 13, 2014, Liars premiered their single "Mess on a Mission" and announced the title of their 7th album as Mess, which was released on March 24 via Mute Records.[17]

TFCF
Edit
On February 20, 2017, Liars updated their site with a short video clip titled TFCF.[18] Another video was later added, called TFCF H, and then TFCF E, and so on. When taking the last letter of each of these videos, the word THEME is spelled out. On June 2, the band released four more videos which spell out the word FROM.[19] On June 15 and June 24, more videos were released spelling the words CRYING and FOUNTAIN, respectively. On May 18, Andrew announced a new Liars album to be released sometime in August, along with the amicable departure of founding member Aaron Hemphill. He will go on tour from August with a new backup band.

The initialism TFCF was the title of the band's LP which was released on August 25, 2017. Liars have, as a matter of course, sounded radically different with each album, pursuing new concepts and occupying diverse mindsets. On this, Liars’ eighth studio album, the bustling backdrops of Los Angeles, Berlin and New York have been replaced with a presence far more intimate and autobiographical.[citation needed]

The Apple Drop
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On May 4, 2021, Liars announced the release of a new album, titled The Apple Drop, which was released on August 6.

Freak Out
Liars Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Freak out
You'll find the blackest heart arising
Freak out
You'll find there's nothing much behind it.

And I stoned the birds with broken wings
There's nothing to freak out about at all.

Freak out
You'll find that violence is not a cause.
Is not a cause, is not our cause,
Is not our cause is not our cause all.

My desire to make the (markets bleed?)
Is nothing to freak out about at all.

Freak Out
Out out
Freak Out
Out out
Freak Out
Out out
Freak Out
Out out

Freak Out
Out out

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Liars' song "Freak Out" are deeply provocative and address several different themes, such as violence, nihilism, and the meaninglessness of modern society. The song provides a commentary on the tendency of people to become obsessed with negativity and darkness, and how this only serves to create more of the same. The repeated refrain of "freak out" implies a sense of panic and anxiety, which is further reinforced by the stark imagery of a "blackest heart arising."

The lines "You'll find there's nothing much behind it" suggest that the darkness and violence that people often fixate on is ultimately hollow and meaningless. The singer's violent actions towards "the birds with broken wings" are also symbolic of this sense of nihilism, as even the gentle and vulnerable are subjected to cruelty and destruction. However, the final line "There's nothing to freak out about at all" indicates that such actions are ultimately pointless and not worth getting worked up about.

Line by Line Meaning

Freak out
Get scared

You'll find the blackest heart arising
You'll be confronted with someone's true, negative character

Freak out
Get scared

You'll find there's nothing much behind it.
There isn't much substance to what you're scared of

And I stoned the birds with broken wings
I caused harm to those unable to protect themselves

There's nothing to freak out about at all.
There's no need to be scared

Freak out
Get scared

You'll find that violence is not a cause.
Violence won't solve any problems

Is not a cause, is not our cause,
We don't support violence

Is not our cause is not our cause all.
We definitely don't support violence

My desire to make the (markets bleed?)
My desire to cause financial harm