Liars “Brats”

The heat, trapped between the band and the sheen of plastic behind them, is becoming a potential wrench in the shoot, and everyone hits their head on wooden ceiling beams at least once. LIARS hardly fit, but they make it work.

The group was initially hesitant to shoot in the attic of the Mission Theater. Frontman Angus Andrews has to bend his body forward the entire time he’s in the low sprawling space. But later, cigarettes in hand and necks turning along the building’s rooftop view of Portland, they decide to sacrifice comfort for the aesthetic.

“I’ve lived everywhere man,” says Aaron Hemphill prior to their first take, referring to a comment that the attic’s bizarre industrial feel compliments the buzz-saw synth of “Brats.” “It’s actually a comfortable space for me – not necessarily creepy.”

That adaptability showed. One of Portland’s hottest days amplified itself in the windowless floor above the projector room while LIARS were LIARS around the elements at play. “Brats” is a catchy, off-putting single that works by being memorably strange. But why this song over the rest of WIXIW, their latest album? Andrews responds against the expectation of revealing some insight: “It’s simple really. This one requires the least equipment to play.”