Automated Paradise is the latest collaboration between Jah Wobble and Jon Klein two post punk legends who between them have worked with among others Siouxie & The Banshees, P.I.L. Specimen, The Invaders Of The Heart and dozens of others. The album features Jah Wobble, Jon Klein, John Tian Chi Wardle, Jon Klein, Izumi Karaage and Keiko Yamazaki and was produced by Jah Wobble & Jon Klein, engineered & mixed by Jon Klein at Tuned In Studio & Ground Control and mastered by Anthony Chapman.
The album opens with Fading Away a synth pop elegy for a world on fire, this has a languorous feel and Jah Wobbles vocals being joined by a backing choir, he talks of being all alone with a digital mind for company, the computerized sounds add to the sense of unease he feels.
Make It Stop isn't as paranoid as the Ross Johnson song of the same name, but in this case they are going mental at everyone staring at mobile phones continuously, the ever impinging technology taking over everything, with jangly guitars and dubby bass and drums, how can they get back to simpler times, when we all talked to each other, instead of watching the world burn and descend into tech drive insanity.
Who Wins? Works over a dub bassline and distressed guitars, they ask one of the crucial questions of the 2020's Who Wins? From the take over of everything by AI and drones, being unable to walk down a street without being on camera, how do you find a way through the miasma, well with this heavy portentous sound and Jah Wobbles searing vocal inquiries, that lead into Jon's guitar freakery, that is still seeking truth and justice.
Read Between The Lines is a poem for the need to always trying to find the truth that can only be found by reading Between The Lines, the music slowly builds with Chinese dub elements and a slow drumbeat, still seeking sane answers to insane enquires, before the Wobbly one references P.I.L. telling us he will Rise Up.
Automated Paradise a place where sylph like basslines intertwine with thoughtful guitar work and a sense that the machines know how to run your world better than you do. Before Terminal Terminal The End erupts in angsty guitars and raging vocals spectating at a collapsing empire and the attendant market manipulations of those who think they know best, the paranoia of the 2020's seeps through every note of this song.
Endless Sky is digi-dub slam poetry, searching for the ultimate truth beyond all the lies we hear, every minute of every day, how to navigate to the truth through squiggles of guitar and deep tonalities of bass with neo-militante drumming, hoping for your world to be fulfilled with authenticity on your wellness app. Has Jah Wobble really gone to a Hot yoga class, or is that Jon's bag.
The album closes by taking us on a trip to South London and Brockwell Lido, a sun dappled dub tune, that has none of the dark murderous happenings at the Lido that Mo Hayder depicts, this has inquisitive guitars and chiming keyboards over those subtle bassline, celebrating the Lido as somewhere that people of all kinds meet and enjoy themselves.
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