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.

Mr. Your on Fire Mr.
Liars Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Do the twist, twist for ice-cream
Come on! Dance, misdirection
You can take new nicks for blue jeans
But it's 3 if you're dead

We are trapped, to get violent
Shiny teeth, for perfection
The most bright, I'm assuming

Love the smell of your breath
Breath

Sci-fi
Half-time

Mr. you're on fire Mr.!
(No sir I'm okay!)
Mr. you're on fire Mr.!
(No sir I'm okay!)

By the seaside, left the seashore
That's where I got lost

We are trapped, to get violent
Shiny teeth, for perfection
The most bright, I'm assuming
Love the smell of your breath
Breath

Sci-fi
Half-time

Mr. you're on fire Mr.!
(No sir I'm okay!)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Liars's song "Mr. Your on Fire Mr." are typically oblique and somewhat difficult to decipher. However, two things that are immediately apparent about these lyrics are that they are surrealist and they are somewhat disparate. The first lines of the song are "Do the twist, twist for ice-cream, Come on! Dance, misdirection". The twist in this instance could be a reference to Chubby Checker's famous dance move. However, the reference to misdirection throws the meaning of the line off-kilter. Similarly, the mention of ice-cream seems both playful and unsettling. The song's chorus, "Mr. you're on fire Mr.!" repeated twice in rapid succession, adds to the sense of disjointedness in the song's lyrics. The chorus is repeated so often that it takes on a kind of mantra-like quality, creating a disorienting effect for the listener.

Other lines in the song are similarly allusive. For instance, the reference to "new nicks for blue jeans" seems to be a reference to fashion and consumer culture, but it's unclear what exactly the line means, or what it might be referring to specifically. Similarly, the lines "The most bright, I'm assuming/ Love the smell of your breath" are difficult to parse. It's unclear who or what the "most bright" refers to, or how that might be related to breath. However, the lines "We are trapped, to get violent/ Shiny teeth, for perfection" seem to evoke a sense of societal pressure or conformity that is both oppressive and unhealthy.

Overall, the lyrics to "Mr. Your on Fire Mr." seem to be a kind of collage of images and ideas, thrown together in a way that is both unsettling and provocative. The song's surrealistic lyrics stand in contrast to the pounding rhythmic drive of the instrumentation, creating a sense of dissonance that leaves the listener feeling slightly disoriented.

Line by Line Meaning

Do the twist, twist for ice-cream
Distract yourself with trivial pleasures

Come on! Dance, misdirection
Let yourself be deceived and led astray

You can take new nicks for blue jeans
You can hide your true nature behind superficial changes

But it's 3 if you're dead
But it's all over if you're caught

We are trapped, to get violent
We are confined and forced to fight

Shiny teeth, for perfection
Obsessing over appearance to achieve perfection

The most bright, I'm assuming
The most intelligent, I believe

Love the smell of your breath
Admire your deceitful words

Breath
The proof of life

Sci-fi
A fantasy, an alternate reality

Half-time
A pause, a break from reality