Wire – Red Barked Tree (Pink Flag)
3/5
By: Keri Kennedy
33 years since the debut after which their record label is now named, Wire are back with a pared down line up of Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey and their twelfth studio album, Red Barked Tree.
This album is atmospheric and more highly produced than previous releases, and a whole world away from Pink Flag (acoustic guitars are everywhere, for one thing). Opener ‘Please Take’ is a slow burner with a multi-layered vocal that never really takes off, while ‘Two Minutes’ lyrically has more of a Fall-like feel to it, along with that trademark angular guitar that Elastica favoured emulating.
On a decidedly soothing effort in whole, ‘Moreover’ is as aggressive as it gets with its big rock riff building to an abrupt end, and it's the best of the eleven tracks on the record. Elsewhere, ‘A Flat Tent’ is pure power pop that will have you forget that these guys are almost 60 years old, and the title track is over five minutes of uncharacteristic acoustic guitars with an echoing vocal, creating some almost psychedelic shoegaze rock.
It concludes an album that never really sets the world on fire but still manages to encompass art rock, pop and occasionally a gritty punk edge with aplomb, which is more than can be said of contemporary releases from bands young enough to be their grandchildren.
Wire - Red Barked Tree by Popfrenzy
Artists in this article: Wire
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