Wire, the band that wedded British art rock with punk’s scorched-earth aesthetic, has persisted far beyond its late-’70s heyday. Now, the band rarely looks back. When Wire reunited for new recordings and a tour in the early aughts, the quartet performed precisely one song from its back catalogue. But on its March release, Change Becomes Us, the band finally looked to its charged past, revisiting songs written for a 1980 album that never happened (it would have followed up its classic third release, 154, but the band broke up for five years instead). Change Becomes Us revises and reinvents those songs for an outlook that’s thoroughly contemporary. It’s as close to archaeology as these original art-punkers will ever get, and yet it sounds like anything but a fossil.

Wire performs at 8 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $20. (202) 667-4490. blackcatdc.com.