THE WOLFGANG PRESS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
The Wolfgang Press have announced details of their ninth studio album, Asylum Variations, set for release via Downwards Records on 25 September 2026.
The album, the follow up to 2024’s acclaimed album, A 2nd Shape – the band’s first in nearly thirty years – continues the return of one of post-punk’s most singular and restlessly inventive groups. Asylum Variations will be followed by a tour – full details to follow – that will include a performance at London’s 100 Club on 30 January 2027.
The Wolfgang Press – Michael Allen (vocals, bass), Andrew Gray (guitar) and Stephen Gray (synthesisers, electronic textures) – are one of the most restlessly inventive groups to have emerged from the post-punk era. All three original members came up through the original 4AD roster: Allen and original keyboard player Mark Cox had been in both Rema-Rema and Mass, while Andrew Gray was a founding member of In Camera.
Recorded at Metway Studio in Brighton, UK, the band 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.
Michael Allen 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.”
Asylum Variations is released by Downwards Records on vinyl, CD and digitally on 25 Sep 2026
Pre-order the album: https://boomkat.com/products/asylum-variations
Photo: Steve Gullick