Libraries Gave Us Power

Straw Dogs by John N. Gray
Dubbed “the philosopher of pessimism”, Straw Dogs by John Gray attacks humanism, religion and science with equal fervour. “We cannot be rid of illusions. Illusion is our natural condition,” he writes. “It’s philosophy for the masses,” says Wire. “But I like that. Lyric-wise, Straw Dogs was my main influence; a philosophical text on the dislocation of modern life.”

The Coming Insurrection by The Invisible Committee
The Coming Insurrection proposes a push towards an anti-capitalist revolution through underground communes and networks that will strike at authority in times of crisis. “I guess it’s an updating of the Situationist International (a Marxist revolutionary group in the 1960s). It’s a really small, thin book that you can read in one sitting and every line just clicks with you in many respects.”

Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis Wilson
Dennis Wilson’s only solo album has been referred to as a cult classic partly due to being out of print for 15 years until a 2008 reissue. “Pacific Ocean Blue was a huge influence on Postcards. The gospel choirs are beautiful; a kind of melancholia but done in a very uplifting way.”

Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen
Recorded mainly in Paris with a 35-piece orchestra, the fourth album by Ian McCulloch’s influential Bunnymen is now looked on as their pinnacle by many fans. “I think, in terms of rock music, that it’s the greatest orchestration ever,” is Wire’s typically succinct critique.