Wire New Album Red Barked Tree Streaming on NPR; North American Tour Dates Announced

On January 11, 2011 Wire will release Red Barked Tree, the follow up to 2008's critically acclaimed, Object 47. The full album is streaming now on NPR.

At a time when back catalogue outsells fresh creativity and newcomers achieve fame by adding a lick of paint to their parents' record collections, it's unusual to find a band who, despite plying their trade for decades, are willing and able to make new work that's as vital and relevant as their own illustrious past recordings. Wire are such a band, and with Red Barked Tree they just might have succeeded in making a statement that will sound as strong in 30 years as their celebrated historical oeuvre does 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.

Red Barked Tree was conceived, written and recorded mostly during 2010 by the pared-down line-up of Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey -- with no guests. Ranging from the hymnal "Adapt" to the barking sledgehammer art-punk of "Two Minutes," the album encompasses the full palette of style and nuance that has always endeared Wire to pastel-tinged pop aficionados and bleeding-edge avant-rockers alike.

Whatever Wire make is Wire music: this is the band's enigmatic guiding axiom. While Wire remain agnostic about the nature and identity of their aesthetic essence, it's always been instantly recognizable, manifesting itself throughout their heterogeneous work. Perhaps this enigma will be revealed when we find the "Red Barked Trees"....

Wire will be touring this spring in support Red Barked Tree.

April 01: Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace
April 02: Montreal, QC @ Le Cabaret du Mile End
April 03: Boston, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
April 05: Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
April 06: New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
April 07: Washington DC @ Black Cat
April 08: Austin, TX @ Mohawk
April 09: Chicago, IL @ Metro
April 12: Portland, OR @ Dante's