Liferuiner – Future Revisionists
Now, this, this – this one caught me a bit by surprise. Liferuiner have been doing their thing for quite a while – they have been on people's radars this side of the Atlantic for a few years – but they are often written off (or adored in some circles) for offering up something that is akin to much of what has gone before, like a band in hero worship. I regarded Taking Back The Night Life as a solid record, but a little too derivative for my liking. No particular criticism, because Liferuiner have seemed to me to always have gone that way and everyone has their own particular derivative pleasure. Its just mine was not this lot.
2013 though – and Future Revisionists. A title that represents the direction the band have gone in, for this is a new epoch for the band, definitely. I was taken aback with opening notes of first track Vacant, an atmospheric statement that is reminiscent of the sound that bands like Landscapes are doing well with right now. The production is a little startling – the vocals so saturated in reverb and delay that you wonder if the band have been having a few late nights listening to the new David Bowie record.
The album has it's brutal moments, as it has its upbeat ones – for me Waivered Lives is as good as the record gets – the soundscaping of much of the record, with a slight sprinkling of youth crew influence and the standard dropped, downtune beatdown as a climax (albeit produced very much more saccharine-sweet than previous stuff I've heard). It's a breath of fresh air that inflates Liferuiner into something more than a band rehashing those sounds we know and love. This one will surprise you. Its not perfect, but it's a curious listen and it will interest those who usually prefer Tragedy to Terror.