There’s a question hanging in the air right now, and Jah Wobble and Jon Klein are the ones brave enough — or maybe just punk enough — to ask it out loud.
Who Wins? — the blistering new single from the legendary duo — lands like a boot through a television screen. It’s a protest song in the most classic, glorious sense: finger-pointing, noise-making, and deeply, uncomfortably relevant. Lifted from their forthcoming album ‘Automated Paradise’ (out March 27 via Dimple Discs), the track is the kind of thing that doesn’t so much end as it haunts you. You keep hearing that question echo long after the music stops. And honestly? You probably wouldn’t like the answer.
The genius of Who Wins? is in what it doesn’t say. It’s not a manifesto. It’s a mirror. The song understands what the best protest music has always known — that the most powerful political statement is the one that lets the listener finish the sentence themselves. This sits comfortably in a long, proud lineage: from the Clash to Billy Bragg, from Gil Scott-Heron to Public Enemy. It’s music made for that precise moment when private frustration spills into public rage, when the whisper becomes a shout.
Jon Klein puts it perfectly: ”Who Wins? is a good old protest song, pointing fingers and making a racket! It was a bass line that turned into a metal riff. The noisier songs on this album tend to reflect on today’s information overload, where there’s no security, and people are becoming more polemic and stressed — but there seems to be a thread of hope that truth and justice will maybe prevail.”
That thread of hope matters. This isn’t nihilism dressed up in leather and feedback. It’s something more alive than that.
Two Legends, One Hell of a Record
If you need a quick reminder of who we’re dealing with here: Jah Wobble (born John Wardle, East London) was an original member of Public Image Ltd alongside John Lydon, and his bass work on the iconic ’Metal Box’ basically rewired what rock music could sound like. He’s since collaborated with Björk, Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Sinéad O’Connor, Ginger Baker, and Pharoah Sanders — a CV that reads like a who’s who of sonic adventurers.
Jon Klein, meanwhile, was the guitarist in Siouxsie and the Banshees during their golden late period (Peepshow, Superstition, The Rapture), before which he co-founded The Batcave — yes, the Batcave, the legendary London goth-glam nightclub — with his band Specimen. He also co-produced a decade’s worth of No. 1 albums for Spain’s Fangoria, so the man knows his way around a hit.
These two first joined forces on ‘Metal Box – Rebuilt In Dub’ back in 2021, and the chemistry has been undeniable ever since. Automated Paradise is their third collaboration and their debut album together as a duo on Dimple Discs — previewed earlier by the motorik post-punk surge of lead track Fading Away, which pulsed with exactly the kind of raw electrical tension that made both their original bands so thrilling.
Wobble describes their creative process with the kind of laid-back cosmic clarity you’d expect from someone who’s been making boundary-dissolving music for nearly five decades:
“The music comes from that silent place. It’s pre-existing. You just allow it to flow… Proper post-punk. Angry and humorous. Okay, it’s the end of civilisation. But nothing lasts forever right? We shouldn’t take it to heart.”
Angry and humorous. End of civilisation, no big deal. Truly no one else doing it like this.
Their working method is rooted in spontaneity — inspired by the philosophy of Holger Czukay of Can, who Klein often heard Wobble quote in the studio: “First we play, then afterwards we talk.” Much of the album came together from scratch in a matter of hours. You can feel that live-wire immediacy in every track.
The record also carries the spirit of their shared work at “Tuned In”, a music community project in Merton — which gives Automated Paradise a grounded, human quality beneath all that glorious noise. Klein compares the album’s emotional register to Mark Stewart — angry, yes, but empathetic and constructive with it.
What’s on the Album?
Eight tracks. No filler. The track list reads like a mood board for the current moment:
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
’Automated Paradise’ drops on March 27 on CD and transparent vinyl (limited to just 800 copies — you know what to do). Pre-order the digital via Bandcamp now.
Catch Them Live
Wobble & The Invaders of the Heart are out on the road across the UK through spring 2026. Tour dates below — grab tickets at jahwobble.com:
| Date | Venue |
|---|---|
| Mar. 28 | Butlin’s Skegness – Shiine On Weekender |
| Apr. 02 | Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne Minster |
| Apr. 03 | Barrel House, Totnes |
| Apr. 04 | Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff |
| Apr. 10 | Artisan Tap, Stoke on Trent |
| Apr. 11 | Library Theatre, Darwen |
| Apr. 25 | Neuadd Ogwen, Gwynedd |
| May 15 | Login Lounge, Camberley |
| May 30 | Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis |
’Who Wins?’ is out now. Automated Paradise drops March 27 via Dimple Discs.
Keep up with Jah Wobble: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music
Keep up with Jon Klein: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music
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