JAH WOBBLE

Ex-PiL man channels post-punk ire on incisive, topical exploration.

Anybody expecting the type of dance-friendly ethno-dub rock that Wobble has been most-readily associated with since the 90s will be in for a surprise upon hearing The Butterfly Effect. Over the past few years, Wobble has been reconnecting with his experimental post-punk roots in PiL, and spurred on by the chaos of our times, he’s delivered an eclectic stateof-the-nation broadside that channels his erstwhile bandmate John Lydon’s maxim that “anger is an energy”. His dense, elastic bass sound is still present, but the title track’s spiky swagger of guitar and forceful drumming is refreshingly acerbic. He’s also in fine voice, reflecting on the interdependence of things in his distinctive sprechgesang, but it’s less new age homily, more a wake-up call against division. His underrated qualities as a lyricist/poet come to the fore on The Iron Lady Got Rust, a pointed dissection of Margaret Thatcher’s legacy over a dubby, funereal groove, attacking a political class that’s given up on culture. Wobble builds on this analysis in The Post Modern Age, calling out ‘the dim-witted masses’ and the bubble of cynicism we exist in. Righteous and necessary, avant-punk style.