MIND HIVE

Mind Hive, Wire's seventeenth studio album was released on 1/24/2020. My copy arrived in the mail today, so I settled in with my stereo after work to listen to it and take some initial notes.

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Track 1 > "Be Like Them" I'm surprised by the opening since it defies my expectations of Wire. It has an Asian flavor countered by growling guitars.

Track 2 > "Cactused"
First single. What I think of as the classic sound of Wire when I consider all of the albums after Send. There's a perfectly wiggly guitar riff that anchors this track, as well as Colin's robotic delivery on vocals. A bit of menace lurks in the lyrics.

Track 3 > "Primed and Ready"
Second single. I hear an echo of "Being Sucked in Again" from Chairs Missing, which then gives way to a beast all its own. Drums and bass really propel this forward.

Track 4 > "Off the Beach"
Jangly guitar. Upbeat music. Driving beat. And then the lyrics sink in because they don't fit the mood of the music. They are paranoid, somber, sad in their "embrace" of modern capitalistic society.

Track 5 > "Unrepentant"
Slow. Dreamy. Something that feels like it came from one of Colin's early solo albums. Percussive bass and guitar as cymbals mix with keyboard washes. Strangely beautiful in its electronic waves. Is this what it's like to be swallowed whole by some strange beast? Nice electronic noodling at the end.

Track 6 > "Shadows"
This album's ballad? Sparse and sprawling instrumentation allows the semi-whispered lyrics to standout. Simple and haunting.

Track 7 > "Oklahoma"
The odd hurdy gurdy leading into the shout of "Oklahoma!" throws me off-kilter. The throb of bass, guitar, and drums interrupted by the synthesizer chirps keeps me there. In its three-minute run I couldn't count how many times the song shifts in tone. Yet it doesn't really. Intriguing. Funky, thrilling, and threatening.

Track 8 > "Hung"
Car alarm dirge. This song feels like a sneer. It scares me a bit. "In a moment of doubt, the damage was done." Indeed. (Cousin to "Sleep-Walking" and "Harpooned" on Wire?) Feedback and drone for the finish. At the end: Are those vocals? Machinery? Blend of both?

Track 9 > "Humming"
Off to church we go. Another ballad? A song about memory that seems to mirror what it's grasping at with the tone of the music. The shift from Colin's vocals to Graham's brief vocals at the end is slightly jarring but it works.

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Overall, Mind Hive is a much quieter album than I expected. It also feels like a(nother) "leap forward" in what a Wire album can encompass. The current lineup has really caught their stride here. Brilliantly familiar even as it isn't. Perfect.