The Wolfgang Press, who were one of the quintessential 4AD bands of the label’s classic ’80s/’90s, have reformed for their first official studio album since 1995’s Funky Little Demons. It’s titled A 2nd Shape and will be out September 27 via Downward Records.
The album was made by founding members Michael Allen and Andrew Gray, along with Andrew’s brother, Stephen Gray. (Mark Cox, the group’s third founding member, left in 1995 and is not on this album.) “This album arrived naturally and organically,” the band say. “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 band add: “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.”
While they haven’t shared a song from A 2nd Shape yet, they have made a teaser trailer for the album that has just a little music that is dark and droney but also hints at danceable rhythms, though it’s more in line with their early post-punk material than the brighter ’90s material. Watch that and check out A 2nd Shape‘s artwork and tracklist below.
For those unfamiliar, The Wolfgang Press were one of the early bands signed to 4AD Records, and when they broke up in 1996, were the longest-running group on the label, as Cocteau Twins left 4AD right after releasing Heaven or Las Vegas. Featuring Mick Allen and Mark Cox, who had both been in Rema-Rema (one of the first 4AD band), and Andrew Gray, The Wolfgang Press began as dark, foreboding post-punk but soon got a taste for funk, dub and dance music. By the time of 1991’s great Queer (which was inspired by the sample-heavy Native Tongues hip hop scene), they had transformed into an almost entirely different sounding band, covering Three Dog Night and releasing pop songs like “A Girl Like You.” Cox left the group before 1995’s Funky Little Demons and Allen and Gray kept the band going, but disbanded the next year during sessions for a sixth album, songs from which would be released in 2020 on Record Store Day release Unremembered Remembered.
The Wolfgang Press’ discography is well worth exploring — 1988’s Bird Wood Cage and 1991’s Queer are especially good — and you can check out a few of their singles and videos below.
The only live show for The Wolfgang Press is at Poland’s Soundedit Festival in October.
A 2nd Shape
This Garden of Eden
21st Century
Sad Surfer
Take It Backwards
The 1st
Knock Knock
Reset Your Mind
The Line
Glacier