We Wish The Sense Would Fly Away

Liars @ Bowery Ballroom 4/15/2010

A Visit From Drum / No Barrier Fun / Clear Island / I Still Can See An Outside World / We Fenced Other Houses With Bones Of Our Own / Scissor / The Overachievers / The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack / Scarecrows On A Killer Slant / Sailing To Byzantium / Here Comes All The People / Plaster Casts Of Everything / The Garden Was Crowded And Outside / Proud Evolution // Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack! / Broken Witch

“Goodnight Everything” was cut from the printed setlist I saw and replaced with a song from their first album.

Liars “Proud Evolution”

Liars perform as a quintet these days, with two players from Fol Chen filling out the arrangements and leaving Angus Andrew to focus his energies on being a singer. He is an immensely charismatic frontman with a fascinating physicality — lanky and imposing, not especially graceful but very deliberate in his mannerisms. He has the energy of a bratty child, but the emotional depth of a grown man. He’s a great anchor for the band’s music, which is always rooted in that punky aggression, but typically stretches out beyond that into something more complex and beautiful in a sad, dark sort of way. The more violent, rocking songs like “Clear Island,” “The Overachievers,” “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant,” and “Plaster Casts Of Everything” were staggered through the set, giving space to the slow songs and more groove-oriented compositions. In either mode, drummer Julian Gross was the MVP, guiding the mood swings with his precise, urgent rhythms and setting the atmosphere with his beats. This is a remarkably gift and talented band hitting their stride — of all the bands I’ve ever seen, the two they most recalled were Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead in their intensity and the way they balanced out polished performance with a necessary degree of rawness and spontaneity.

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