Pared-down U.K. postpunk act Wire today announced it will self-release its 12th studio album — and third post-reunion effort — on Jan. 11, an 11-track collection of new material called Red Barked Tree that is preceded by a free MP3 download of the song “Two Minutes.”
The new album — recorded throughout 2010 by core members Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey with no guests — will be released on the band’s own Pink Flag label, which last summer launched a new series of archival live shows.
According to the band’s announcement today, “Red Barked Tree rekindles a lyricism sometimes absent from Wire’s previous work and reconnects with the live energy of performance, harnessed and channeled from extensive touring over the past few years.”
While the album comes out in January on CD, the band will issue it early — on Dec. 20 — via digital outlets. And fans who buy it through Wire’s mail order service also will receive a free EP called Strays, featuring “live favorites which have never achieved greatness as recorded artifacts,” according to the band’s site.
Wire is previewing the new album by offering up a free MP3 download of “Two Minutes” (via Pitchfork), a raw, churning rocker that clocks in at, yes, almost exactly two minutes. You can stream or download the full track below.
See ‘Red Barked Tree’ tracklist and hear ‘Two Minutes’ after the jump…
Tracklist: Wire, Red Barked Tree
1. “Please Take”
2. “Now Was”
3. “Adapt”
4. “Two Minutes”
5. “Clay”
6. “Bad Worn Thing”
7. “Moreover”
8. “A Flat Tent”
9. “Smash”
10. “Down To This”
11. “Red Barked Trees”
Wire, ‘Two Minutes’ (2010) by Slicing Up Eyeballs
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
This song kicks ass!!!!
Spoken Voice Sounds quite a lot like Keith Moon on Quadraphrenia, which in turn sounds like Phil Daniels in Park Life by Blur- norrawaimean ?
To my ears ‘Two Minutes’ seems like a competent, but fairly nondescript, and unmemorable track. At their best, Wire makes, noisy art punk/post-punk/pop-punk/etc that also manages to be catchy, and oft funny. I’ve listened to it several times, and to me, there’s just nothing particularly memorable about ‘Two Minutes’; while not terrible, it just doesn’t resonant with me.
Since i have so much respect for Wire i’ll certainly give ‘Red Barked Trees’ a fair chance. That said, this track doesn’t fill me with optimism.
It works better