The overwhelming influence Wire has had on music over the past 3 1/2 decades is immeasurable. When compared to other bands from that era who also tilled the rocky fields that cradled the seeds of punk rock, Wire was always considered singular and set apart in their efforts. From their inception in 1976, Wire was an outfit that pushed past the two chord manifesto, who changed tempo while most opted to only play fast, chose detailed artistic strokes where most punk bands scoffed at the notion and sang about cerebral ideas and ambiguous moods when everyone else went for the obvious and easily recited rallying cry chorus. Their first three albums Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154 are considered the Holy Trinity of Brit-punk by laying the groundwork with short, meaty, hook-laden anthems then building new structures on that established foundation with synthesizers, dark vocals and that oft shunned element of melody. In 2011, they still butter their bread with that aesthetic and show no signs of doing anything different.
Red Barked Tree is Wire's first full length since the 2008 LP Object 47. With the band now whittled down to a 3-piece, the new effort has all of the signposts of a Wire album: angular guitar, metronomic drums, stern emotionless vocals and cryptic song titles and lyrics. That impersonal feel is most evident in the opener "Please Give" where Colin Newman pleads for his opposition to take their knife out of his back with all of the passion of an audio reading of the phone book. The next track "Now Was" is their strongest reflection on their original sparse and pointed style, featuring a double time march and a monotoned rant. "Clay" feels grandly automated, like the world's largest pocket watch, patiently ticking each moment of a steely beat and guitar in seemingly perpetual action.
They can still showcase their punk rock battle scars on the appropriately monikered single "Two Minutes" and the extended grinders "Smash" & "Moreover" where it only takes a bit of pedal fuzz to breakup the slick, yet commonplace production. This is the biggest hindrance on Red Barked Tree, where these eleven songs of buzzing, twitching energy are often smothered with an MOR radio format sheen. Tracks like "Bad Worn Thing" and "Adapt" source the version of Wire reincarnated in the eighties where ethereal keys weave through heavy guitar strums. Yet the nagging smoothness of some of the more reserved tracks seems to have the innate intention to mix nicely next to the latest John Hiatt single. This is a shame because Red Barked Tree is more than a band of eventual pensioners clutching at the final straws of their decorated past. It is muscled and true to Wire's nature without a hint of phoning in another flimsy album to fit into their final chapter. (Hi, Rolling Stones!) With a career that has survived losing a key member and two lengthy periods of their history spent in hibernation, Wire has every excuse to falter. But that wouldn't be very punk rock, would it?
Right click to download "Two Minutes" here.
Purchase Red Barked Tree here.
Wire - Red Barked Tree (full album)
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