WIXIW: What ‘The King of Limbs’ Should Have Been?

As I mentioned before, the Liars are nearing the release of their brand-spankin’ new electronic album, WIXIW (pronounced “wish you”), which Otis Hart of NPR is brazenly (nigh on blasphemously) calling “the best Radiohead album since Kid A.”

While they were (mostly) kidding, the hyperbole extends from WIXIW‘s aesthetic similarities to Kid A, which should make any alt-music indie nerd wreak with stink lines of quiet (don’t forget ironic) joy:

[ … ] when you listen to the new Liars album — as you should many times over the next week — imagine Thom Yorke’s falsetto taking the place of Angus Andrews’ less distinctive but no less effective voice amid the barrage of intricate electronics. At times, it’s almost as if Andrews is rubbing it in Yorke’s face, like in “Ill Valley Prodigies” or the title track. These are the sort of songs disappointed Radiohead fans wanted on The King of Limbs.

Officially out June 5th on CD, vinyl and digital format, be sure to catch an exclusive stream of the entire album, courtesy of NPR, here.

Liars recently released an amusingly creepy video for their fetching track, “No. 1 Against the Rush,” which, sonically, has a way of burrowing underneath your ribcage despite its unsettling visual narrative.  The latter involves each member of the band being stalked and kidnapped by a mysterious man with an unfriendly agenda.  Don’t miss it:

‘Wish you’ is a familiar and universal sentiment of longing and hope, but when misspelled becomes uniquely shrouded and difficult to interpret, which in many ways is representative of our music and the songs we wrote for this album […] The word being a palindrome offered us some comfort, and came from superstitious behavior that was the result of extreme uncertainty and doubt. The word and spelling struck us because it seemed to exude a special quality or power.

~Angus Andrew

News, featured image and info via Sheryl Witlen at Mute

Featured image by Zen Sekizawa