{"id":11961,"date":"2014-02-12T14:05:37","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T19:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=11961"},"modified":"2014-02-24T14:06:55","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T19:06:55","slug":"water-liars-come-a-long-long-way-from-nowhere-tour-begins-on-valentines-day-at-proud-larrys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/water-liars-come-a-long-long-way-from-nowhere-tour-begins-on-valentines-day-at-proud-larrys\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Liars Have \u201cCome a Long, Long Way From Nowhere\u201d – Third Album Out Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by<\/span> Rebecca Long, Photos by<\/span> Maggie Huber<\/span><\/h2>\n

–<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BLM0290_WaterLiars_Cover\"<\/a>On the fourth of this month, Mississippi band Water Liars<\/strong><\/span> released their third (and arguably best) album. The band takes its name from the first story in the first collection released by the late, great Mississippi writer Barry Hannah<\/strong>. Much like the protagonists in Hannah\u2019s story, Justin Kinkel-Schuster<\/strong><\/span> (lead vocals, guitar), Andrew Bryant<\/strong><\/span> (drums, otherworldly harmonies), and G.R. Robinson<\/strong><\/span> (bass) tell the truth like it is, and they invite kindred souls to listen in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kinkel-Schuster is originally from St. Louis where he headed the band Theodore<\/strong><\/a>, but has been playing music with Bryant since 2011. Andrew Bryant has lived in the Oxford and Bruce areas of North Mississippi all his life\u2014many of you may have memories him playing around town as recently as 2010 (we remember a great show at Two Stick<\/strong> when it was still on Harrison Avenue). Bryant\u2019s solo album Galilee<\/em>, released in August 2009, was named the #2 \u201cMemphis Music\u201d album by Commercial Appeal<\/em> at the end of 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band is definitely So\"WaterLiars_photocreditMaggieHuber\"<\/a>uthern; it\u2019s really difficult to hide a steeped-in-sweet-tea Mississippi accent. There is a lot of country influence in their music, but one shouldn\u2019t try to pin them down to a category without the descriptor \u201cRock.\u201d Their influences are myriad but include bands like Nirvana<\/strong> and Black Flag<\/strong>. In a 2013 interview with Sarah Reddick<\/strong> for The Local Voice<\/em>, Kinkel-Schuster said, \u201cAfter hating it, I figured out what country music was. And now it\u2019s a constant battle between punk and country.\u201d Not to worry\u2014Water Liars sound nothing like the \u201cCountry\u201d you\u2019ll hear on the radio if you turn on the FM dial. In fact, to my ears, nothing else sounds like Water Liars, and it\u2019s refreshing to be able to say that. I started listening to this album skeptically, having found Wyoming<\/em> too bleak for a woman who\u2019s already a half-time pessimist. But by the end of the album I was in love \u2014 with this band, with Andrew Bryant\u2019s percussion skills, G.R. Robinson\u2019s driving bass lines, and Justin Kinkel-Schuster\u2019s reflective mind and bare heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

Water Liars\u2019 first effort, Phantom Limb<\/em>, was recorded on a whim in a matter of days in Pittsboro, Mississippi, and debuted in March of 2012. A year later, on March 5, 2013, the then-duo of Bryant and Kinkel-Schuster released their sophomore album Wyoming<\/em> to critical acclaim. People really love and have lauded this stripped-down, honest album; it was the best-selling record of 2013 at Oxford\u2019s own The End Of All Music<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"WaterLiarsLogoCircle\"<\/a>Eleven months after the release of Wyoming<\/em>, Water Liars\u2019 fanbase continues to grow as the band releases its eponymous third album, arguably their best release to date. Recorded at Dial Back Sound<\/strong><\/a> in Water Valley and mixed by Bruce Watson<\/strong> and Bronson Tew<\/strong>, this record just sounds<\/strong><\/em> good. Until recently, I hadn\u2019t listened to Wyoming<\/em> in its entirety but a few times. Water Liars<\/em>, on the other hand, has literally been on repeat since the CD arrived in the office.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new album starts off with what I consider to be one of Water Liars\u2019 strongest songs; \u201cCannibal\u201d opens with a guitar riff reminiscent of 90\u2019s grunge which leads into Kinkel-Schuster\u2019s first words on this new record: \u201cWhen you taste the flesh and sweat of the one that you love \/ Do you feel like a cannibal, like an animal, just like a flood?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 That\u2019s just the beginning of this sexy album. \u201cLet It Breathe\u201d is a finger-pickin\u2019 love song, just Kinkel-Schuster\u2019s handsomely haunting voice and his guitar. The opening lines of the song strike more than one chord with my heart:\u00a0 There\u2019s a room inside my heart no one ever goes. It\u2019s been boarded up and locked for years, and everything is gone. Then you come along and cut yourself a key, swept the floors and opened all the windows, said \u2018Baby, let it breathe.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>\u201cLet It Breathe\u201d brings to mind Bob Dylan<\/strong>\u2019s finger-picking style, but (though I love Dylan\u2019s work) I think Kinkel-Schuster\u2019s vocals take this already-beautiful song to another level that Dylan\u2019s nasally twang could never pull off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Th\"WaterLiars3_photocreditMaggieHuber\"<\/a>ere\u2019s the slower \u201cSwannanoa,\u201d about heartbreak and being lonesome in the aftermath, regardless of what happens. Kinkel-Schuster redeems his listeners\u2019 potential sadness when he reminds us, I looked death in the face, but it was only my father. If I\u2019d known all along, I wouldn\u2019t have bothered with being afraid, with being a coward. <\/em>Another song that starts slowly is \u201cLast Escape,\u201d though this tricky (and terrific) tune speeds up and gets heavier after my favorite line on the record: The songs keeping me awake are the songs that set my heart to break. The songs keeping ME awake? This album\u2019s \u201cVespers\u201d and \u201cTurn Me On\u201d (probably the sexiest song to come out of Mississippi since Blue Mountain<\/strong>\u2019s \u201c70\u2019s Song\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n

Water Liars<\/em> is rife with faster tracks, too. \u201cWar Paint,\u201d the album\u2019s second song, features the line, I wanna see just how it is when you play the red but the black wins<\/em>, sung just before a lilting strain leads back into distorted electric guitar. \u201cPulp\u201d has been one of my favorite tracks since the first listen. \u201cI Want Blood\u201d and \u201cRay Charles Dream\u201d are the two contenders for my favorite song on this album. \u201cI Want Blood\u201d starts with an infectious drumbeat by Bryant, kindled by Kinkel-Schuster\u2019s reflective opening lines, Come a long, long way from nowhere with armor made from nothing but some songs I learned along the way from some strangers. Now strange lands hold no fear for me, cause in every place and company, no matter who was near to me I\u2019ve been a stranger.<\/em> Maybe what happened in the short span between Wyoming<\/em> and Water Liars<\/em> could also be summed up with words from \u201cI Want Blood\u201d: I became an army when I finally got to dealing with the darkness there beside me feeding me lies<\/em>. Kinkel-Schuster sings the refrain, I want blood, I want blood all the time<\/em>. Well, I want to listen to \u201cI Want Blood\u201d all the time. \u201cRay Charles Dream\u201d reportedly came to Kinkel-Schuster in a dream, and it is (pun intended) a dreamy ditty\u2014it\u2019s poppy and catchy and danceable. The track happily reminds us of something <\/strong>Dead Gaze<\/strong><\/a> would write; it\u2019s a rock-n-roll love song.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band has evolved in the past eleven months\u2014not only the fuller sound from the added bass line, but maybe the message has changed a little. \u201cWater Liars<\/em>,\u201d says Kinkel-Schuster in an interview with American Songwriter<\/em>, \u201cIs a record about trying to live and love and earn a living in times and places that don\u2019t make it easy on anybody. It\u2019s about trying to handle the bad times that nobody escapes and take care of the good times as long as they last. It\u2019s us trying to tell about the outskirts of America that we\u2019ve seen, lived through and live in, and get it right, for once if not for all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Rebecca Long, Photos by Maggie Huber – On the fourth of this month, Mississippi band Water<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":11993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,1595],"tags":[2764,2750,936,2742,2730,191,2751,2755,306,2734,315,2747,2753,2746,2762,893,2744,2743,2758,2756,2749,2754,2763,2748,2745,2757,2752,2760,2759,2761,1546,2148],"class_list":["post-11961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-shows","category-music-review","tag-album","tag-andrew","tag-blue-mountain","tag-bob-dylan","tag-bronson-tew","tag-bruce-watson","tag-bryant","tag-cannibal","tag-dead-gaze","tag-dial-back-sound","tag-end-of-all-music","tag-g-r","tag-galilee","tag-gr","tag-i-want-blood","tag-justin","tag-kinkel","tag-kinkel-schuster","tag-last-escape","tag-let-it-breathe","tag-maggie-huber","tag-phantom-limb","tag-ray-charles-dream","tag-robinson","tag-schuster","tag-swannanoa","tag-theodore","tag-turn-me-on","tag-vespers","tag-war-paint","tag-water-liars","tag-wyoming"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/WaterLiarsFeat.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}