Wobble, sculptor of bone-crunching bass lines for Public Image Ltd circa 1979′s Metal Box, has made a career out of into-the-lion’s-jaws collaborations with some of rock’s most influential and outspoken figures, from PiL’s John Lydon, to Sinead O’Connor and beyond. His latest album introduces his most satisfying team-up so far, with 30-something Lancastrian singer-songwriter Julie Campbell, who first surfaced a year or two ago on Warp, under the alias LoneLady.

First put into contact by Warp’s boss, Steve Beckett, the unlikely duo soon discovered that, despite a 20-year age gap, they had remarkably similar goals. Campbell was retrospectively smitten by Metal Box — she’d barely been born when it came out. Wobble, for his part, had been thinking about making those kind of noises again, after wandering the perimeters of the avant-garde for 15 years. Together, they’ve dreamt up a far-reaching collection of moves and grooves, all loosely inspired by the genre-busting freedom of the post-punk scene, from which Wobble first sprung.

Campbell’s enthusiasm helped him to re-access the mindset of his PiL days, even if he had refused involvement in Lydon’s reunion — to the point where he even called in Keith Levene, PiL’s mind-boggling guitarist from… read more »