Each month in the magazine we play an artist or group a series of tracks which they are asked to comment on – with no prior knowledge of what they are about to hear.

In The Wire 498 it is the turn of Gina Birch, founding member of The Raincoats.

Here you can listen to a mix of the tracks our correspondent Mike Barnes played to Birch during the interview, which is published in full in The Wire 498. To find out what Birch said about them, subscribers can read the interview in our online magazine library here. Or you can buy a copy of the magazine in our online shop.

But first, a brief biography of our subject:

Bassist and vocalist Gina Birch and guitarist Ana Da Silva formed The Raincoats in 1977, while at North London’s Hornsey College of Art. They’d been inspired by seeing The Slits live, and were joined by violinist Vicky Aspinall and former Slits drummer Paloma Romero, aka Palmolive. The group signed to Rough Trade Records and recorded the highly original trio of albums The Raincoats (1979), Odyshape (1981) and Moving (1984). Birch and Aspinall went on to form Dorothy, who released a number of dance-oriented singles and EPs during 1988–89.

Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love declared themselves as Raincoats fans and a 1994 US tour with Nirvana was scheduled but abandoned due to Cobain’s suicide. But Geffen Records offered them a deal and a new line-up centred on Da Silva and Birch recorded Looking In The Shadows in 1996.

Birch’s next group The Hangovers recorded Slow Dirty Tears in 1998 with Simon Fisher Turner on guitars and keyboards. Subsequently The Raincoats have played occasional gigs, and Birch has remained musically active while concentrating on film making – including videos for New Order and The Libertines – and has latterly taken up painting. Her musical career was rejuvenated when Jack White’s Third Man Records asked if she had unreleased material. A new version of “Feminist Song”, which dated back to The Raincoats, was released as a single in 2021 and Birch has now released two solo albums for that label, I Play My Bass Loud (2023) and Trouble (2025), both produced by Youth.

The Jukebox took place at her home in North London.

Gina Birch’s Invisible Jukebox tracklist (with timestamp)

Patti Smith (00:00)
“Hey Joe (Version)”
From Hey Joe (Version)/Piss Factory 7"
(MER) 1974

Yoko Ono (05:08)
“Mirror Mirror”
From YokoKimThurston
(Chimera) 2012

Vivien Goldman (14:48)
“Launderette”
From Launderette 7"
(Window) 1981

Nirvana (18:47)
“The Man Who Sold The World”
From MTV Unplugged In New York
(DGC) 1994

Feminist Improvising Group (22:15)
“The Seventh Kiss”
From Live In Hamburg (NDR Funkhaus Studio 10)
(No label) 1980

Bob Dylan (33:47)
“Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)”
From Empire Burlesque
(Columbia) 1985

Nina Simone (39:07)
“Backlash Blues”
From Nina Simone Sings The Blues
(RCA Victor) 1967

Ana Da Silva & Phew (41:38)
“The Fear Song”
From Island
(Shouting Out Loud!) 2018

The Pop Group (48:03)
“She Is Beyond Good And Evil”
From She Is Beyond Good And Evil 7"
(Radar) 1979

Still House Plants (52:38)
“Sticky”
From if i don’t make it, i love you
(Bison) 2024