As a band, Liars has a long-held reputation for defying expectations at every single turn of their careers and for a sound that’s purposely challenging. WIXIW, which landed at number 21 on this site’s Best of 2012 list was a deeply, anxious album with material that left a lingering sense of unease. The band’s forthcoming, seventh, full-length release, Mess manages to be the complete, schizophrenic antithesis of WIXIW. As Angus Andrew has admitted in interviews, for on the new album was “instinctual, fun, and confident.” And as you’ll hear on “On A Mission,” the first single off the new album, Mess has the band playing with a purposeful, balls-out sense of abandon that feels primal.