Liars - (Self-titled)

As one of the best albums of 2007, much of the attention that Liars’ fourth (and, arguably, best) album received centered on how the band had finally forsaken their conceptual efforts to simply focus on the art of the song, and the diversity that yet another stylistic U-turn displayed. No experimental electronic music with elaborate titles, just stripped down, visceral rock-pop with refined song structures.

But beyond the straight-ahead thrusts of the singles, the real heart of this album lies in two Aaron Helphill-penned tunes that showcase his incredible songwriting talents…

Liars - ‘Freak Out’

When I interviewed the band last year, I put it to them that ‘Freak Out’ should be celebrated as a moment of pop genius. “It is a moment of pop genius!” cried out Angus Andrew in hearty agreement, prompting a discussion on how the song was close to being discarded by Hemphill before anyone else had a chance to hear it. The song itself is like a giddy burst of adrenaline, a snappy, focused combination of ’60s surf music, The Ramones and Sonic Youth at their peak - in other words, utterly catchy.

Liars - ‘Pure Unevil’

The centrepiece of it all, however, lies one of my absolutely favourite songs of ‘07. Raw, intimate and kept as simple as possible, this is a love song written in the language of a truly gifted songwriter, ironically the words are difficult to parse (your guess is as good as mine) as they’re intentionally left ambiguous, but the sentiment is pure and unmissable.

Download a demo version of the song for free here.

A cover version of the song by Atlas Sound is available for download on Bradford’s blog.

In turn, Aaron has covered the Atlas Sound track ‘Bite Marks’, also available from the same site.