The story behind the Liars' latest record goes something like this: two scary-looking dudes with shag haircuts wander into an enchanted New Jersey forest, bury the angular post-punk sound of their group's debut in a shallow grave, and emerge with a flatulent concept album about things that go bump in the night. This must be a Blair Witch-level hoax-perhaps the real Angus Andrew and Aaron Hemphill remain trapped in a parallel universe while Bizzaro doppelgangers sully their reputation with unholy white noise and foul atmospherics.

It took a couple of years and a re-release for the Liars to gain a firm foothold with their tantalizing no-wave dance party They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, and the luxury of that kind of slow-burn viral marketing should've afforded the group enough time to regroup for their latest release. Instead, they dropped the ax on the two guys-rhythm section Pat Noecker and Ron Albertson-responsible for the first record's most organic elements.

Producer David Sitek caters to the pair's self-consciously arty impulses on the opener "Broken Witch," where Andrew chokes out repetitive vocal non-sequiturs over shrill hearing-test tones and what sounds like the rattle and clank of kitchen cookware. Andrew and Hemphill break new ground for breaking hipster hearts on They Were Wrong, So We Drowned with a series of limp, formless sonic misfires. Only Hemphill's herky-jerky programming on "They Don't Want Your Corn They Want Your Kids" showcases a brief moment of divine inspiration. It's got a good beat, and you can certainly dance to it, even if the rest of the record seems primed to clear the floor.

"The story behind the Liars' latest record goes something like this: two scary-looking dudes with shag haircuts wander into an enchanted New Jersey forest, bury the angular post-punk sound of their group's debut in a shallow grave, and emerge with a flatulent concept album about things that go bump in the night. This must be a Blair Witch-level hoax-perhaps the real Angus Andrew and Aaron Hemphill remain trapped in a parallel universe while Bizzaro doppelgangers sully their reputation with unholy white noise and foul atmospherics.

It took a couple of years and a re-release for the Liars to gain a firm foothold with their tantalizing no-wave dance party They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, and the luxury of that kind of slow-burn viral marketing should've afforded the group enough time to regroup for their latest release. Instead, they dropped the ax on the two guys-rhythm section Pat Noecker and Ron Albertson-responsible for the first record's most organic elements.

Producer David Sitek caters to the pair's self-consciously arty impulses on the opener ""Broken Witch,"" where Andrew chokes out repetitive vocal non-sequiturs over shrill hearing-test tones and what sounds like the rattle and clank of kitchen cookware. Andrew and Hemphill break new ground for breaking hipster hearts on They Were Wrong, So We Drowned with a series of limp, formless sonic misfires. Only Hemphill's herky-jerky programming on ""They Don't Want Your Corn They Want Your Kids"" showcases a brief moment of divine inspiration. It's got a good beat, and you can certainly dance to it, even if the rest of the record seems primed to clear the floor.

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