Album Review: Wire - Change Becomes Us

When asked to explain what inspired Wire to create their 13th album (which has been aptly titled Change Becomes Us), the band's primary songwriter Colin Newman penned it down as being “a good idea at the time...” Such a statement would imply a level of half-heartedness; that's the kind of devil-may-care attitude applied to a scenario where good judgement is overshadowed by impulse. But what Wire have done with Change Becomes Us is a lot more than that throwaway statement leads on.

With Change Becomes Us, Wire have delved back into their formative years and reworked a number of songs that never made it to the studio and exist only in live recordings, predominately lifted from blueprints of tracks off their 1981 live album Documents And Eyewitnesses. As it were, they've reinvented their 'second wheel' – and that's something they're well aware of, with Re-Invent Your Second Wheel manifesting the band's tumultuous history resulting in constant change, a theme prevalent throughout the album. Eels Sang is the reincarnation of Documents And Eyewitnesses' Eels Sang Lino, and while it still carries the same erratic blend of prog and punk, there's a slightly more obscure tinge to what was already something quite murky. In saying that, there's a definite method to the band's madness – Stealth Of A Stork exemplifies the band's admirable knack of being able to make the bizarre and erratic something quite melodic and comfortable.

Change Becomes Us wasn't a good idea – it was a great idea. Wire have not only reinvented themselves, but have transcended beyond their 2011 album Red Barked Tree and raised the bar even higher.