Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers unveils new solo track "Contact Sheets"

Speaking to NME in 2021, Wire confirmed that a follow-up was finished, but no more was said on when fans could expect to hear it – until now.

In a surprise drop on SoundCloud, Wire has unveiled "Contact Sheets" – which marks his first solo release in almost two decades.

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Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield previously revealed that Wire had been recording his new LP while the singer was at work on his own previous solo album, Even In Exile.

“I’d have our studio one day, he’d have it the next, he asked me to play a guitar solo on one of his tracks, and yeah – his stuff is sounding great,” Bradfield told NME. “There was one song on there that was fucking amazing but hard to describe. It was very modern, very electronic, and very soothsaying and prophetic.”