Photo by Clemens Habicht

It’s been five years since Liars released The Apple Drop, the third album since the seminal art-rock band that helped formed the Brooklyn sound in the Aughts became just the solo vehicle of frontman Angus Andrew. You’ll have to wait another half a year to hear A Ban On Plastic Bag Bans, the band’s 10th studio album overall, since it doesn’t come out until March of 2027. Yes, we are already talking about next year’s spring releases well before the Q4 deluge has settled and list season has even occurred for some odd reason now before autumn has even officially began.

Though Andrew currently resides back in his native Australia alongside his wife, a.k.a. Mary Pearson of the dearly missed avant-pop duo High Places, and daughter, it hasn’t dulled him to the horrors happening in American politics. After spending some time in Kalamazoo, MI, he worked to (unsuccessfully) fight a law that put a ban on banning plastic bags. You would think, right? But this is the current state of America, after all.

That bureaucratic ridiculousness sets the scene for the album’s lead single, “Ice Pick, Kalamazoo”. It’s true to its name in being chilly, yet bombastic dive into Andrew’s anger with seeing the events of this country unfold around him. Rich with sheets of scathing synth friction grinding into the axe of post-punk mania, and dystopic field recordings, the downward spiral gets deeper and darker the further the listen rages on. “Fate has come, faith has gone / Hope the tide will bring us / Home,” he states, in resignation. With that, you can hear why he ust have opted out for life on the other side of the world instead…

Directed by: Angus Andrew

Liars’ A Ban On Plastic Bag Bans will be released March 5th on Mute Records.