{"product_id":"the-wolfgang-press-asylum-variations","title":"The Wolfgang Press - Asylum Variations","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wolfgang Press\u003c\/strong\u003e have announced details of their ninth studio album, \u003cem\u003eAsylum Variations\u003c\/em\u003e, set for release via Downwards Records on 25 September 2026. The album, the follow up to 2024’s acclaimed album, \u003cem\u003eA 2nd Shape\u003c\/em\u003e – the band’s first in nearly thirty years – continues the return of one of post-punk’s most singular and restlessly inventive groups. \u003cem\u003eAsylum Variations\u003c\/em\u003e will be followed by a tour – full details to follow – that will include a performance at London’s 100 Club on 30 January 2027.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003cem\u003eAsylum Variations\u003c\/em\u003e The Wolfgang Press continue their tradition of never making the same album twice. Although the sonic DNA of \u003cem\u003eA 2nd Shape\u003c\/em\u003e is intact, the band ramp up the tension and dread while also creating a coherent and accessible set of songs. Recorded at Metway Studio in Brighton, UK, they utilised the method of recording directly onto ADAT and taking the results into the studio to use as the basis for the record. The resulting album is yet another step forward for a band who’s only constant is the fact that every album will sound different to the last.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMichael Allen\u003c\/strong\u003e explains, “The title is taken directly from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, where each piece is a portrait of a friend, family member and or acquaintance and supposedly has a hidden melody. With our album I felt that lyrically there was a thread that ran through the whole piece. The world has become increasingly unstable, both locally and globally, and each track is a visceral response to how I and others have been impacted by this change and how we are navigating through it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpener \u003cem\u003e‘Speakers Don’t Speak’\u003c\/em\u003e is driven by a \u003cstrong\u003eCan\u003c\/strong\u003e-like beat, Roxy VCS3-style processed guitars, and gurgling analogue synths, over which singer\/bassist Michael Allen’s seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics evoke unease without specifying its source. Elsewhere on the album, wheezing synths and haunted harmonies underpin \u003cem\u003e‘Blood On The Leaves’\u003c\/em\u003e, with Allen’s bass melodically meandering before collapsing into a dubby breakdown, while \u003cem\u003e‘Sail By’\u003c\/em\u003e again references the dub influence that marked the band out from their early ‘80s post-punk peers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith Allen in his best crooner mode, \u003cem\u003e‘Bind Us’\u003c\/em\u003e is ushered in on \u003cstrong\u003eAndrew Gray\u003c\/strong\u003e’s undulating guitar, while his brother \u003cstrong\u003eStephen\u003c\/strong\u003e picks out the prettiest of keyboard melodies. Penultimate track \u003cem\u003e‘Embrace The Light’\u003c\/em\u003e is a sparse and downtempo ballad, which allows Allen to show off his yearning vocal to full effect and finale \u003cem\u003e‘Man Made Heaven’\u003c\/em\u003e crawls slowly to the album’s end, a nimble bassline darting around dirge-like guitars and a synthetic choir. Allen is joined by his daughters for a coda of “it’s a lie, it’s a lie”, finishing the album in a crescendo of industrial noise that manages to be both bleak yet strangely uplifting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaintaining such a dichotomy is not an easy thing to do, and it’s part of what made The Wolfgang Press so unique first time around. If \u003cem\u003eAsylum Variations\u003c\/em\u003e is anything to go by, the 21st century iteration of the band is more than capable of channelling this duality, their fractured music making them perfect for the fragmented times we find ourselves in.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Downwards Records","offers":[{"title":"KiTalbum","offer_id":59568372285785,"sku":"SDZ-53188","price":28.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/the-wolfgang-press-asylum-variations-scaled.webp?v=1790255094","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/the-wolfgang-press-asylum-variations","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}