New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Today WIRE have shared the second single from their new album, 'Mind Hive', which is set for release on January 24th 2020 via the band's own label pinkflag.
The band's seventeenth studio album sees the definitive post-punk group continue a run of stellar releases, showcasing a band on peak form 40 years into their hugely influential career.
Following the first glimpse of 'Mind Hive', "Cactused", new single "Primed & Ready" rides out on a tightly pulsing synth sequence punctuated by icy slivers of guitar. This is Wire at their most compressed yet propulsive.
"The lyric/text for this song could be read as a series of questions, set in 2017" comments the band's Graham Lewis. "Who could have known the answers would be, in no particular order…Liverpool FC, me,
Boris the Spider, 67, Lieutenant Colonel."
Colin Newman adds: "Primed & Ready" was the easiest song to write on the album, written in less time than it takes to play it. There's nothing remotely "clever" about the chord sequence / structure and there's only three chords, 2 in the verse & 1 in the chorus. As in all things Wire "less is more".
Since their inception WIRE have maintained a reputation for creating music that stretches the rock form whilst simultaneously editing it down to its essence. With their gift for crafting songs that perfectly balance experimentation and accessibility, WIRE were recently hailed by the Quietus as "one of the most consistent British bands of all time". Yet WIRE exhibit little inclination to look back or trade on past glories, rather they remain resolutely focused on producing music which is smart, vital and defiantly modern.
'Mind Hive' is the group's first newly recorded material since 2017's stellar 'Silver/Lead'. That album garnered rave reviews ("Some of the best tunes they've done" - The Guardian) and career best sales. Yet, if 'Silver/Lead' set the bar pretty high, 'Mind Hive' seems to have no problem vaulting over it - a supremely confident album featuring some of the band's most upbeat moments of recent years.
WIRE's back catalogue is of course studded with influential epoch defining works. Last year saw the reissue of their ground-breaking first three albums: 'Pink Flag', 'Chairs Missing' and '154'. These were voted amongst the top reissues of the year (Rolling Stone at no.10, Uncut at no.12 and Select at no.3). And now 'Mind Hive' arrives at a time when WIRE are being cited as an influence by yet another generation of bands. They are also the subjects of a career spanning feature documentary called 'People in a Film' due for release late 2020 (details here).
Quite how a group that has been operating for such a long period is still able to produce such exciting and essential work is difficult to understand. And yet here we are; 'Mind Hive' is the most masterful 35 minutes of post-punk you will hear this year.
'Mind Hive' will be released on January 24th 2020 via pinkflag. Pre-order it here: https://pinkflag.greedbag.com/buy/mind-hive-0
"Still delivering unpredictable thrills... Lurid yet skilfully inconclusive music for these precarious times." - **** MOJO
"Another vital document from a singular band for whom the past is a foreign country." - **** Record Collector
"Iconic post-punkers remain in rude health." - 8/10, Uncut
"We are lucky to have Wire; we are lucky to have this album." - 8/10, Loud & Quiet
"Wire have once again shown that it's possible to stretch possibilities... Youngsters take note." - **** DIY Mag
"While "it's another solid record from Wire" might not be a particularly remarkable thing to declare, the fact that it's their 17th in a row absolutely is." - London in Stereo
'Mind Hive' tracklist:
Be Like Them
Cactused (YouTube)
Primed and Ready (YouTube)
Off The Beach
Unrepentant
Shadows
Oklahoma
Hung
Humming
