Since 1976, English band Wire have confounded expectations by doing everything they can to avoid easy categorisation. Their expertly executed albums have embraced everything from spiky punk to deliciously strange experimental music. On the intelligent Change Becomes Us, Wire demonstrates that they have lost none of their wilful eclecticism and fierce artistry. Opening salvo Doubles & Trebles, which is guaranteed to grab the listener from the opening portentous chords, is propelled by a pummelling rhythmic force that will reverberate through your skull. The band sound as if they are communicating with earth from a low-flying spaceship with laser beams set to “vaporise.” Titanically good! As expected, Wire then flick the switch to something quite different on Keep Exhaling which has an understated yet insistent rhythm that perfectly underpins the song’s memorable central melody. Adore Your Island features dramatic slow-burn verses and thrashing industrial punk bridges that are molten in their searing intensity while Re-Invent Your Second Wheel and B/W Silence glisten and shimmer with liquid melody. After the pogo-inducing Stealth Of A Stork which is a short and snappy blast of intelligent punk delivered with maximum precision and economy, Wire change gears dramatically on the eerie and psych-tinged Time Lock Fog which veers into space-rock territory. On Magic Bullet Wire channel elements of Pink Floyd and even introduce a rather surprising dance beat. For a mind-altering dose of potent weirdness check out the quirky post-punk freak-out that is Eels Sang before slipping into the catchy Love Bends which features a great lead vocal reminiscent of the much-missed psych-God Syd Barrett. As We Go is arty indie-rock at its best while & Much Besides is an atmospheric oddball treat that veers from hypnotic instrumental passages to mystifyingly cryptic spoken lyrics. Closing number Attractive Space ascends to a fiery crescendo before heralding the end of this bizarre yet satisfying journey with shimmering distortion and what sounds like the distant cries of departing aliens. Perhaps this is the sound of Wire bidding us a fond farewell as they fire up the spaceship and skip to another galaxy to concoct the next musical instalment in their perpetually intriguing career.
BY GRAHAM BLACKLEY
Best Track: Doubles & Trebles
If You Like These, You’ll like This: On Returning (1977-1979) WIRE
In A Word: Art
