For a record made up of leftover ideas, 10:20, the new collection from Wire, is a remarkably pleasurable release. Out on Friday, the album pops and churns with real post-punk fire, and a wealth of inventiveness. While the styles vary a tiny bit among the tracks here, a listener would be hard pressed to peg this one as an updating of earlier songs and pieces of songs. A listener is instead more likely to find this the strongest, most consistent Wire LP in ages.
"German Shepherds", a composition dating from the late Eighties, sounds a whole lot like "Eardrum Buzz" and that ought to be enough to tell you that this is a fantastic cut, one of many here. Elsewhere, "Boiling Boy" strikes a similar vibe, benefiting along with the numbers on the first half of the release from guest musician Margaret Fielder (Laika) on guitar. "Underwater Experiences", a holdover from the Chairs Missing days, roars and whirs with real energy, while "Small Black Reptile" marries an infectious hook to some lively drumming from Rob Grey. Sounding oddly like Blur, this composition reminds again just how essential the work of Wire has been to shaping what we think of when we think of alternative music.
"The Art of Persistence", written in 2000, buzzes with smart energy, a nice bridge between the earlier material from Wire, that of the Eighties, and that of now, while the epic "Over Theirs" closes 10:20 in an altogether different fashion. Plodding on purpose, and methodical in approach, this cut up-ends the sharp attack of Wire's earliest releases with an approach that the band could only have gotten away with in the subsequent decades. This is big in sound, and unlike so many of those short numbers the band rose to prominence with. It is, of course, further proof that the players here in this line-up -- Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Robert Grey, and Matthew Simms -- remain committed to an ideal of pure sound, elevating the use of bright chords, and a snappy rhythmic interplay to something divine. Wire, through whatever style they've adopted in whatever decade, punch harder than nearly any of their peers even still. They always did.
10:20 is out on Friday.
More details on Wire via the official website.
[Photo: Matias Corral]