Brand New Wire – Chairs Missing

released 29.06.18

Released a mere 10 months after the punk blaze of Pink Flag, Chairs Missingfrom 1978 proved Wire was more than a smart-arse punk band. Theabrasive nature of the earlier release is still evident in many of thetracks, but the input of Mike Thorne’s keyboard arrangements adds farmore depth and atmospheric layers. Standout cuts are the instant popsingle Outdoor Miner and the mindless but catchy chant of I Am the Fly.Chairs Missing is full of energy, wit and good songs. Chairs Missing has been often cited as the evolutionary link between punk and post-punk. In general, the lyrics are darker than those on Pink Flag,even morbid at times; images of cold, drowning, pain, and suicide hauntthe record, and the title itself is a reference to mental instability.