Wave swells with Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding’s mercurial pop yelps and pointed guitars", and that the addition of Gregory to the band lent the music "space for their transfixing guitar interplay". In the words of Chris Dahlen from Pitchfork, the band pursued "pure pop disguised as jittery post-punk, all played with teeth-chattering intensity", while Milenio writer Ernesto Herrera called the album a representative record of new wave. Editors at Trouser Press opined that it was a "spiky art-pop gem". Writing for Ultimate Classic Rock in 2019, critic Michael Galluci said the album is "45 or so minutes of art-rock" and argued that, "even today, Drums and Wires sounds like an unconventional work among the period's angular, arty and evolving New Wave." Songs Side one 8 of the album's 12 songs were written by Partridge, with the remaining 4 by Moulding. "Making Plans for Nigel" is told from the point of view of parents who are certain that their son Nigel is "happy in his work", affirming that his future in British Steel "is as good as sealed", and that he "likes to speak and loves to be spoken to." The distinctive drum pattern was an attempt to invert drum tones and accents in the style of Devo's 1977 rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction". Partridge remembered his discontent with the time devoted to the song's recording, remarking that "[w]e spent a week doing Nigel and three weeks doing the rest of the album." "Helicopter" was inspired by Partridge's childhood memory of a 1960s magazine advertisement for Lego toys. "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty" is about Vanessa Kearley, a girl that Partridge was infatuated with during his school years. It was briefly considered as a single, along with "Real by Reel". "Ten Feet Tall" was XTC's first acoustic song, inspired by Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind". Gregory thought it sounded so unlike the band that he suggested Moulding release it as a solo single. Side two "Real by Reel" is about Partridge's anxieties toward government surveillance. "That Is the Way" is about Moulding's concerns toward how parents relate to their children. Its recording marked the first time XTC hired a session musician, flugelhorn player Dick Cuthell. ”Outside World", a frenetic number built on manic riffing from Gregory and Partridge, and a muscular bass-line by Moulding was considered as a possible single early on during the recording process.