(Pink Flag)The band have added taut melodies, lush electronics and lyrics of prickling anxiety to the distorted guitar chaos: this is such a good album
The career of Wire, frontman Colin Newman once proudly announced, is “a one-way trip”. It’s not an idle boast. On stage today, you might get one song from their “classic” 70s albums or their first reunion in the 80s, but it’s best not to book a ticket under that assumption: whole tours have gone by where Wire barely acknowledged they had a past at all.