Wire - Silver / Lead
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English punk greats Wire have not slowed down one bit. Since reforming in 2002, they’ve released 6 LPs not including live releases, EPs and the like. And here is the 7th LP, Silver / Lead including 2 original members: Colin Newman and Graham Lewis. 
Wire have never been a band interested in repeating themselves and Silver / Lead is no exception. On the 40th anniversary of the band, they’re still pushing, exploring and writing prophetic music that feels current and necessary for the days we live in and timeless all the same. The sound this time around is dark and stormy with Newman and Matt Simm’s guitar work favoring minor-key progressions and unpredictable progressions of discord and confusion. This is somewhat a departure and expansion of their sound after the more mobile sounds of 2015’s self-titled LP and their epic 2013 LP Change Becomes Us, but there’s much to grab hold of. The mournful fuzz of “Sonic Lens” is languid in its unraveling and the guitars of “Forever and a Day” create some chaotic harmonies on top of the chunky chorus that Newman delivers. Elsewhere “Short Elevated Period” ratchets the pace up with more guitar fuzz and dynamic interplay between Newman and Simms while “Brio” goes for an almost Slint-like dirge featuring stretched out guitar leads that would make perfect sense on Eno’sAnother Green World. 
It’s such an amazing thing that a band like Wire are still making music all these years later and that the work is so rewarding. Hopefully there’s much more to come. (Dom)
Check out a track here.