Wire - Red Barked Tree
- Written by Rob Barker
For the most part, the bands that came from the punk explosion of the 70s fell into one of three categories as the decades passed. The most common was attaining mild success before falling into obscurity, others became legends, and others caved in and revelled in commercialism.
While all of this went on Wire managed to stay on the outside. Since their formation in 1976 the band have set themselves aside from the punk mainstream. Never content with putting out four chord songs about rising up against the government, the band constantly sought new sounds, with their 1978 LP, Chairs Missing showing their move towards the atmospheric and experimental.
Given that they’ve had over three decades to experiment, the band’s latest album, Red Barked Tree comes as a surprise, with the music sticking well within rock’s boundaries, without so much as a hint of pushing them.
With albums like 154 and Manscape under their belts it’s clear that Wire are capable of creating some truly inventive sounds, with the synth work demonstrated on those albums showing that they really were trying to create something new. The stripped back lineup of Newman, Lewis and Grey found on Red Barked Tree sees the band dropping the synths and playing as a standard indie-tinged rock band, and their creativity seems to be stifled as a result.
By all means the record is a competent one, with ‘Down To This’ showing them at their melancholy best, mixing atmospheric strings and flowing vocals to create the album’s highlight. The problem is that the great songs are outnumbered by the likes of ‘Smash’ which has more in common with the indie mainstream of the 90’s than with their previous output.
For Wire fans, Red Barked Tree could be something of a disappointment, not due to a lack of nostalgia, but a lack of anything new. For new listeners, the album could make a great introduction, mixing some of the band’s former invention with more mainstream rock sounds, but this record is far from groundbreaking.