Liars announce upcoming album, A Ban On Plastic Bag Bans

A Ban On Plastic Bag Bans delves into Andrew’s observations of corporate power in middle America, with “Ice Pick, Kalamazoo” arriving as the first taster. Soon after moving to Kalamazoo, Michigan with his wife and daughter, Andrew smelled something around their home that turned out to be toxic hydrogen sulphide released by a local packaging factory. It was produced at levels deemed so dangerous that the state health department advised residents to "stay indoors" — leading him to want to take action in holding the factory accountable.

The title is based on a Michigan law that prohibits local governments from banning single-use plastic bags, something that informed Andrew's experience of Michigan significantly.

"You become so used to something, you lose your sense of it," says Andrew. "It's got more to do with the perception of things than modern pollution – how these things that can be a constant in your life become sort of ingrained and invisible."

The album was written and recorded between the United States and Australia, where Andrew now lives, and sees him reunite with avant-garde jazz drummer Laurence Pike and multi-instrumentalist Cameron Deyell.

"It wasn't just the environment that was polluted," Andrew says. "It was also my mind."

A Ban On Plastic Bag Bans artwork

A Ban On Plastic Bag Bans tracklist

"Happy Or Not"
"Ice Pick, Kalamazoo"
"Laced Plume"
"Urgent As Always"
"Deep Deeper"
"Disaster Tropes"
"Beat Creep Some Eyes"
"Real Time Trespasser"
"SHAME!"
"Retention Arc"
"Out Of Order"