Jah Wobble: high minds, low frequencies - and an ocean of stillness in between

He's been the bassist with Public Image Ltd and a spokesman for William Blake. So what, wonders Phil Johnson, is Jah Wobble up to now?

Bass player and bandleader Jah Wobble has named his latest group, assembled for a tour beginning tonight in London, after the 1972 Soviet science-fiction film by Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris. While the title reflects an empathy with the director's austere work, it also makes a point about the nature of contemporary culture, which Wobble sees as privileging immediate gratification over deeper meanings that take time to work out.

"Solaris is a strong metaphor of mind," he says. "Tarkovsky's film affected me in a deep way, but when I first saw it I couldn't stay with it. Then, when I saw it again years later, I appreciated that there was a stillness to the film, something which isn't altogether comfortable. I'm hoping this music will be very kind of still too, and have that same meditative quality."

Calling the group Solaris wasn't motivated entirely by high-minded principles. "Basically, we just needed a group name," Wobble says laconically. "I don't know what the fuck the music's going to be like, either." This uncertainty is due partly to a lack of rehearsal time, but also to the nature of the players involved, all stars in their own right. On piano is Harold Budd, the guru of ambient music, famed for his collaborations with Brian Eno and the Cocteau Twins; the drummer is Jaki Liebezeit, late of krautrockers Can, while Graham Haynes – son of legendary jazz drummer Roy – plays cornet. Bringing up the rear on "distortion bass" and electronics is Bill Laswell, a regular Wobble collaborator.

Faced with talking about the musicians he has hand-picked for the job, Wobble switches metaphors from mind to soccer. "It's always the football analogy for me," the Spurs fan says. "It's like you've got a few leaders out there on the pitch and because they're good, they don't need anyone to tell them what to do. Harold's a massive influence, he's definitely got his own thing, like Jaki. Bill is very, very worldly, a midfield maestro and a great passer of the ball, while Graham knows that whole textural approach inside out."

It's while talking about football that Wobble relates that he no longer lives in London. The Stepney-born Wobble, who moved to Manchester over two ago, had become an unacknowledged laureate of the city, composing a requiem in memory of William Blake and collaborating with the novelist and "psychic-geographer" Iain Sinclair.

Solaris represents another change for Wobble. "It's like you've got older, come to terms with yourself – but not in a bland way – and that's reflected in the way you approach music. For me, music always had this ability to take the pain away, like a mantra or a prayer, so that you're not feeling the pain and confusion of everything else. Now I'm looking for stillness."

Solaris: Ocean, London E8, (020 7314 2800), tonight; Arches, Glasgow (0901 022 0300), Mon; Contact Theatre, Manchester (0161 274 0600), Tues; Wardrobe, Leeds (0113 383 8800), Wed; Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal (01539 725133), Thurs; Dome, Brighton (01273 709709), Sat. 'Radio-axiom' by Jah Wobble and Bill Laswell is on Palm Records