If there was ever any doubt that Wire would return to a sound heavily rooted in punk, particularly this far into their career, Graham Lewis sneering, “Fuck off outta my face” in Red Barked Tree opener “Please Take” neatly proved that, if nothing else, the attitude was still there. Yet what “punk” means, exactly, for a band like Wire — who have deconstructed it, redefined it, and outright shunned it so many times over — is not an easy thing to get one’s head around. During their early-’00s comeback, they tackled punk as a hyper-aggressive, albeit shoegaze-inspired industrial assault. With Red Barked Tree, the aggression is toned down, but the volume and snottiness certainly isn’t.

The charm of Red Barked Tree is in how loose it feels, even though the music itself is taut and cohesive. Tracks like “Now Was” and the dense “Two Minutes” are propelled by a raw energy that’s only occasionally been part of the band’s repertoire since the 1970s. And the dramatic, dreamy layers of “Down to This,” likewise, show the band finding time to craft hypnotic art-rock in the vein of their 154 dirges. Lyrically, though — from that first “fuck off” on — Wire feel a bit like they’re taking the piss, particularly in “Bad Worn Thing” (Lewis begins his verse with something about a “jam sandwich filled with Uzied peelers…”). I wouldn’t call it trolling exactly, but they’re not taking themselves too seriously, which works out fine with spunky numbers like the better tracks on Red Barked Tree. Maybe they’re not playing it too seriously, but they still clearly give a shit.