Public Image Ltd – ‘End of World’ album review: John Lydon maintains relevance
It has now been 45 years since John Lydon departed his anarchist punk vehicle Sex Pistols in favour of more experimental soundscapes under the Public Image Ltd (PiL) banner. The band has reshuffled through several lineups and stylistic iterations in that timeframe. The only constants through the decades have been Lydon’s snarling vocal command and loose contact with the charming dissonance of punk.
This week, Lydon and his longstanding PiL lineup, consisting of drummer Bruce Smith, guitarist Lu Edmonds and bassist Scott Firth, unveil their new album, End of World. The LP’s title is candidly apocalyptic but only tells part of the release’s conceptual story. If one thing oozes from the rivets of this record, it’s honesty.
The first wind we caught of the album was its lead single, ‘Hawaii’. The track is neither mournful nor ecstatic but opens up Lydon’s sentimental side as he reflects on a fond memory with his late wife, Nora Foster. ‘Hawaii’ transports the listener to the tropical haze of Oahu, where the couple would sit in their holiday home “drinking mushroom tea and watching them dangerous waves all day long”.
Matching the sentimental nature of ‘Hawaii’, Lydon gives a rarely heard croon amid shimmering instrumentals. Bringing us back to familiar territory, Lydon’s bold and raspy nonchalance returns throughout much of the 13-track record, with the exception of ‘Strange’, which houses an anxious, sinister croon: “Between the lines/ There is the evil/ That jealous fate/ Before you reason/Life’s strange”.
End of World benefits from a range of styles that offer pleasing balance throughout. From the funky bass groove of ‘Walls’, through the dark electro textures of ‘Being Stupid Again’ to the industrial rock musings of ‘North West Passage’, PiL have flexed their instrumental muscles to convey a range of sonic attitudes, many of which juxtapose a theme of nascent doom.
Speaking of which, the band arrive at their most contemporary sound in electro-laden songs like ‘L F C F’, that demand an ironic trip to the dancefloor. This danceable energy is taken in a pop-rock direction in ‘Pretty Awful’. One of the least awful moments on the album, the funky number accelerates on a catchy riff with single-worthy pep and a lyrical throwback to a Sex Pistols classic. As he ties “the noose” and discusses a “pretty awful” girl, Lydon adheres to the ironically macabre title.
PiL hasn’t pushed the musical vanguard nor exceeded their own track record in End of World, but the venture was wholly worthwhile as an entertaining update on Lydon’s lyrical whim. Enhanced by a healthy balance of moods, tempos and styles, the album points an oblique finger towards a dystopia on the horizon. The tranquil scapes of ‘Hawaii’ arrive fittingly at the end of the record, offering sanctum from contemporary pressures; perhaps it’s heaven?
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