Wire – Wire

Lucky Fourteen

When you read that a band has released their fourteenth album, it probably means they’re either one of the strongest bands in the world or they’ve completely overstayed their welcome. Very fortunately for any post-punk or new wave fan, when it comes to Britain’s Wire, it is undoubtedly the former. Their newest release, the self-titled Wire, is – much like many of their recent releases – a master class in how to constantly be updating your sound without losing the soul of your band.

Wire starts with one of the strongest on the record, “Blogging,” which shows how interesting it can be when you contrast such a deeply 80s sounding band with 2015 lyrical content. There is something very striking when hearing Amazon wishlists and Twitter sung about in such a stylized manner, a tactic that a lot of bands could make sound incredibly cheesy, but Wire nails it.

The record is stocked with songs that seamlessly blend dreary fuzz and danceable catchiness, like “In Manchester” or “Burning Bridges,” which has a hook you won’t be able to get out of your head all day. Wire hits one of its most impressive peaks at the very end of the album with the closing track “Harpooned,” a seriously heavy and dramatic musical assault of the very best kind. Showing that they can tackle shorter bouncy songs and longer, dragging opuses, Wire has managed to make an album that is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish – a feat for any age!

Between 2013’s Change Becomes Us and now Wire, one can only hope that these legendary lo-fi hazy punk rockers will stick around for a heck of a lot longer. While there are so many great modern new wave influenced post-punk bands putting out some incredible records, there’s just nothing quite like hearing something new from one of the originals. Pick a day when it’s just a little too cloudy outside, sit down, spin this record, and let the guys in Wire teach you a thing or two about coolness.