Jah Wobble (Public Image Ltd) and guitarist Jon Klein (Siouxsie & The Banshees, Specimen) have released their ‘Automated Paradise’ album, their third collaborative record and also their debut album as a duo with Peckham-based label Dimple Discs. These two legends first combined forces on the ‘Metal Box – Rebuilt In Dub’ album in 2021, they continue to collaborate live and in the studio.
This is Jah Wobble’s first post-punk album in recent years, these brash guitar-driven tracks reflecting his preoccupation with the declining state of the nation. Driven by his weekly experience with Klein at the “Tuned In” music community project in Merton, this record recalls the spirit of Mark Stewart – angry in an empathetic, constructive way. The lyrical content mainly came together in the studio.
“Making this record with Jon Klein was (as ever) an absolute buzz. Totally in the moment. The music comes from that silent place. It’s pre-existing. You just allow it to flow. Sometimes you organise it early in the process, sometimes you let it flow, with minimum direction,” says Jah Wobble.
“Sometimes you conceptualise it from the get go (chord structures, set pre-ordained rhythms, bossa-nova, waltz, one drop, etc. Sometimes it’s the opposite of that (see under Can, Metal Box etc. Sometimes you refer to memory sometimes you are “in the moment”. This was one of those in the moment records, that got quickly recognised for what it was and was duly processed.”
Dimple Discs earlier shared the motorik lead track ‘Fading Away’, pulsating with the raw electrical tension of British post-punk and new wave, and the fire-buster ‘Who Wins?’, a song about distrust — about the growing sense that the grand halls of power have become echo chambers of empty promises. Both songs capture moments when the atmosphere shifts in humanity’s current trajectory.
“This album started to take shape with the more angular noises pieces, but then stepped away into different places occasionally almost ambient. The sketches I presented for some tracks were turned upside down once Jah got hold of them. He tried different ideas for lyrics at different stages of each song’s evolution, sometimes improvising themes and tunes that we’d edit and organise, and other times composing final ideas prior to recording,” explains Jon Klein.
“That age old tradition of waiting around in studios, whilst the engineer boffin endlessly twiddles knobs whilst speaking in numerical tongues is something we are keen avoid. We like to make things happen in the moment, in a way that attendees can follow. Often we complete a working draft to a piece of music from scratch in a few hours”.
This album follows two 2025 albums for Wobble – ‘Dub Volume 1′ (Dimple Discs) and the expanded reissue of the 2017 album ‘The Usual Suspects’, featuring 25 career highlights, re-recorded and including some of Wobble’s finest material, alongside tracks by Invaders Of The Heart and PiL.
Guitarist and producer Jon Klein was a member of Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1987 until 1994 (the ‘Peepshow’, ‘Superstition’ and ‘The Rapture’ era). Originally in the Bristol band Europeans, he then formed the glam-goth act Specimen and relocated to London, where he co-founded The Batcave nightclub. He has worked with Talvin Singh and Sinéad O’Connor, and co-produced a string of No. 1 albums for Warner-signed Fangoria, fueling a decade-long streak of chart-topping success in Spain.
Born John Wardle, bassist and vocalist Jah Wobble is from East London. An original member of Public Image Ltd (PiL) from 1978-80, he made two seminal albums with the band, including the iconic ‘Metal Box’. Wobble formed Invaders of the Heart in 1982, collaborating with Can’s Holger Czukay, Jaki Liebezeit, U2’s The Edge and producer François Kevorkian. By the 1990s, he was well known, had chart success and a Mercury Music Prize nomination for the album ‘Rising Above Bedlam’. After releasing the top-40 album ‘Take Me To God’ and then ‘Heaven and Earth’ via Island Records, Wardle fled record company constraints to more experimental recordings.
Wobble has collaborated with Sinéad O’Connor, Massive Attack, Ginger Baker, Björk, Brian Eno and Pharoah Sanders, was part of the supergroup The Damage Manual, worked with Julie Campbell aka LoneLady on ‘Psychic Life’, and with his wife Zi Lan Liao on the album ‘Chinese Dub, winning the Songlines Magazine World Music Award. He also plays and records with his sons Charlie and John Wardle in Tian Qiyi. 2024 brought his ‘Timeless Roots’ album with Horace Andy, followed by 2025’s ‘Old Fashioned Ways’ album with Jamaica’s Ken Boothe. Wobble played on Richard Russell’s album ‘Everything is Recorded’ (notably ‘Losing You’ feat. Sampha).
Wobble published his autobiography ‘Memoirs of a Geezer: Music, Life, Mayhem’ via Serpent’s Tail in 2009, following his 2008 radio documentary on Sid Vicious for BBC Radio 3. 30 Hertz Records, the independent label Wobble launched in 1997, still releases music in collaboration with Cherry Red, including ‘Dark Luminosity – The 21st Century Collection’ and ‘In Dub II: Deluxe’.
‘Automatic Paradise’ is out now via Bandcamp, and available on both CD and transparent vinyl, with this pressing limited to 800 copies. Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart continue touring the UK in 2026, and tickets can be ordered at https://jahwobble.com/#live
TRACK LIST
1 . Fading Away
2 . Make It Stop
3 . Who Wins
4 . Read Between The Lines
5 . Automated Paradise
6 . Terminal Terminal The End
7 . Endless Sky
8 . Brockwell Lido
CREDITS
‘Fading Away’ & ‘Endless Sky’ written by Jah Wobble, John Tian Chi Wardle & Jon Klein
‘Automated Paradise’, ‘Make It Stop’ & ‘Terminal Terminal The End’ written by Jah Wobble, Gilberto Giannacchi & Jon Klein
‘Tempodrom’ & ‘Who Wins?’ written by Jah Wobble, Izumi Karaage & Jon Klein
‘Read Between The Lines’ written by Jah Wobble, John Tian Chi Wardle, Jon Klein & Anthony Hopkins
Jah Wobble – bass on all tracks; vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7)
Jon Klein – guitar (all tracks); programming (tracks 1, 4, 7); synthesizer (track 1); EBow (track 4); clarinet, electric piano, glockenspiel, melodica, lap steel guitar (track 8); back vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6)
John Tian Chi Wardle – drums (tracks 1, 4, 7)
Gilberto Giannacchi – drums (tracks 2, 5, 6)
Izumi Karaage – drums (tracks 3, 8)
Keiko Yamazaki – backing vocals (track 1)
Anthony Hopkins – keyboards (track 4)
Produced by Jah Wobble & Jon Klein
Engineered & mixed by Jon Klein at Tuned In Studio & Ground Control
Mastered by Anthony Chapman
Cover artwork & design by Jah Wobble
Released by Dimple Discs – Barcode 5052571225325
Vinyl catalogue ID #DEEDEE081LP / CD catalogue ID #DEEDEE081CD
Live photos by Fergus Kelly / Room Temperature
Other photos by Peter McDowell
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
JAH WOBBLE & THE INVADERS OF THE HEART – TOUR DATES
Mar. 28 BUTLIN’S SKEGNESS – Shiine On Weekender 2026
Apr. 02 WIMBORNE MINSTER – Tivoli Theatre
Apr. 03 TOTNES – Barrel House
Apr. 04 CARDIFF – Clwb Ifor Bach
Apr. 10 STOKE ON TRENT – Artisan Tap
Apr. 11 DARWEN – Library Theatre
Apr. 25 GWYNEDD – Neuadd Ogwen
May 15 CAMBERLEY – Login Lounge
May 30 LYME REGIS – Marine Theatre