LIES (VINYL)

Only a glance at the vast catalogs of cousins Mike and Nate Kinsella
shows how wide their musical interests have always been, from the
idiosyncratic experiments of Nate's Birthmark and his time in the
great Make Believe to Mike's twisting path among Cap'n Jazz, Joan
of Arc, Owls, and Owen. But at least right now, Nate and Mike's most
recognizable work together may be their contributions to American
Football, a band that entered its celebrated second act after a 14-
year absence. LIES, the new Kinsella cousin duo, represents the first
time they have written together without anyone else. What's more,
their gripping self-titled debut, Lies, rewrites the way Nate and Mike
are expected to sound, breaking free of what could have come to
define them. Pulling from influences such as My Bloody Valentine,
The Cure, Robyn and others, the album is full of explosive but
intricate pop songs, their striking hooks nested in glorious composites
of keyboard melodies and digital textures, powerhouse rhythms and
sweeping strings. Lies charts the sometimes-difficult terrain of what
it is to navigate a relationship, to power past feelings of deceit and
doubt and move forward, toward an amorphous hope.