The Wolfgang Press return with a new album, A 2nd Shape, out on 27 September 2024 on Downwards Records.
The new album features core members Michael Allen and Andrew Gray, joined by Stephen Gray, Andrew’s brother. Whereas their last studio release (Unremembered Remembered, a compilation of unreleased material from 1995 recorded by Allen and Gray) leaned toward ecstatic soul and a rhythmic palette typical of the time, A 2nd Shape finds the trio less concerned with anything approaching funky, opting instead for a brooding yet vital set of tracks, reintroducing a reinvigorated band.
Talking about the new album, The Wolfgang Press explain, “This album arrived naturally and organically. The tracks came about from a measured process, and we feel A 2nd Shape is timely and essential. We also feel Downwards Records has fitted in perfectly with this process, their enthusiasm for this project has been tangible and encouraging.”
The original post-punk era looms larger over these new recordings, which are sounding powerful and full of life. Allen’s bass playing is as prominent as it has been since their debut, and though they’re sounding moodier than they have since those early days, A 2nd Shape feels like music for these times, the only kind of statement a group can make after enduring the growing malaise of recent years. For all the moments of atmospheric contemplation, the trademark TWP confidence remains in place.
Talking about the recording process, they go on to say “For this project we wanted the record to be made without the use of computers. It was important for us that the tracks were recorded on tape and played live as a band, with very little tampering/overdubbing. We purposely limited ourselves in the number of tracks we could record by using an old ADAT 8-track machine and the result of how well this worked surprised us all.”
Known for drawing lines between his own techno and the post-punk groups that inspired it, Karl O’Connor’s Downwards Records is a fitting label to launch this rebirth. He recalls witnessing The Wolfgang Press blow a few of his favourite bands off the stage in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and chose Bird Wood Cage when recently asked to write about a favourite sleeve for The Wire. The vibe evoked by the reinvigorated TWP has channelled the isolation felt by many into an album that sits alongside their best work.
A 2nd Shape will be released on Downwards Records on 27 September 2024
A 2nd Shape tracklisting
- This Garden of Eden
- 21st Century
- Sad Surfer
- Take It Backwards
- The 1st
- Knock Knock
- Reset Your Mind
- The Line
- Glacier
Editors Notes
Musically active since the late ‘70s, Allen and Gray were originally in bands that formed the cornerstones of the early 4AD universe, with Gray in In Camera and Allen in Rema-Rema and Mass. The Wolfgang Press – Michael Allen (vocals, bass), Mark Cox (keyboards), and Andrew Gray (guitar) – debuted with the foreboding and skeletal LP The Burden Of Mules in 1983, followed by 1986’s Standing Up Straight, which featured Elizabeth Fraser on ‘I Am The Crime’. 1988’s Bird Wood Cage included ‘Kansas’ with AllMusic highlighting “the dance and funk elements which would ultimately emerge as the dominant facet of their work”. 1991’s Queer, followed, with the group tempering their fractured and brooding pop with the influence of sample-based hip-hop. The band’s final album as a trio, 1995’s Funky Little Demons, was their last studio album. In 2020, Unremembered Remembered, a collection of unreleased recordings by Allen and Gray was released.
Studio album discography
- The Burden of Mules (4AD,1983)
- Standing Up Straight (4AD,1986)
- Bird Wood Cage (4AD,1988)
- Queer (1991, 4AD)
- Funky Little Demons (1995, 4AD)
The Wolfgang Press Facebook / YouTube / Downwards Records
The Wolfgang Press will perform on October 27 (Sunday) during the 16th edition of the Soundedit International Music Producers Festival at the Wytwórnia Club (Łódź, ul. Łąkowa 29).
Tickets (169 zł): empik.com, bilety24.pl, going.app, ticketmaster.pl, wytwornia.pl and in the club’s box office.
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