Bright Magic

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They started with the 2013 album Inform Educate Entertain on a strict diet of electronic focused instrumentals laced with jingoistic public information films and propaganda honed from the archives of the British Film Institute. Subjects ranged from the LMS Railway London to Glasgow overnight postal train, through the development of the Spitfire to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s first successful ascent of Everest. Go! captures the final minutes of the Apollo 11 moon landing, except in the PSB version the mission controllers all shout their positive mission states of “Go!” in perfect 4/4 time. The audience did it too, with associated punching of the air. This tune is a massive crowd favourite and was notable for some of the fastest rhythm guitar playing I’ve ever heard. I’ve no idea how Willgoose’s Telecaster retained all six strings by the time he’d finished with it. Perhaps it didn’t. Perhaps it never does. Der Rhythmus Der Maschinen" contains samples from Wochenende (1930) by Walter Ruttmann and New Power in their Hands (1959), courtesy of the BFI.

Contains samples from 'BBC: Voice of Britain', courtesy of the British Film Institute and used with kind permission

To promote Bright Magic, Public Service Broadcasting will be on tour in the UK through October and November 2021 – full dates are listed below. On 30 August 2022, PSB played a specially commissioned, album length, piece for Prom 58 called 'This New Noise', with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was commissioned to celebrate 100 years of the BBC. At the time of the performance the band said there were currently no plans to tour the piece, or to release it as a record - but they hinted that this may not be set in stone. The band subsequently announced that there would be a record release on 8th September 2023. Doing this felt inevitable, somehow,” muses J. Willgoose, Esq. “In my head, it was whirring and pulsing away for a long time, even before Every Valley - this fascinating, contrary, seductive place. I knew the album was going to be about the city, and its history and myths, and I was going to move there. So it’s quite a personal story. It’s become an album about moving to Berlin to write an album about people who move to Berlin to write an album…” Separated into three parts (‘Building a City’, ‘Building a Myth’, ‘Bright Magic’), this album offers an absorbing overview of an incredible city – and others like it – complete with samples from ‘Wochende’, a 1928 tape recording by Walter Ruttman that blends speech, field recordings and music together. After hearing this, J. Willgoose, Esq decided to make his own version that sums up the state of the modern world. Late Night Final: Public Service Broadcasting's J. Willgoose Announces "A Wonderful Hope" LP + Shares "The Human Touch" ft. Teddy Hunter". 26 September 2020.

From the electronic reverie emerges the most exhilarative guitar solo to grace a Public Service Broadcasting record, on Der Rhythmus Der Maschinen, rounding off the first phase of the album. Wilgoose rips through an explosive fuzzy descending riff, tipping his hat to St Vincent, before former Bad Seed Blixa Bargeld drops in for an echoey spoken-word outro in which he salutes “the ber city”.Public Service Broadcasting release their fourth album, Bright Magic, via Play It Again Sam. An album in three parts ( Building A City / Building A Myth / Bright Magic), it is their most ambitious undertaking yet, bringing you to Europe’s heart and de facto capital, the cultural and political metropolis that is the ‘Haupstadt’ of the Federal Republic of Germany – Berlin. The longest shadow of all however is perhaps inevitably cast by David Bowie, particularly the era from which sprung the incontestable genius of Heroes and Low. Here, the Warszawa-evoking The Visitor pays tribute, ruminating on his other worldly gift for helping society to assimilate concepts once seen by many as uncomfortably alien. a b c Lester, Paul (12 December 2012). "New band of the week: Public Service Broadcasting". The Guardian.

Public Service Broadcasting have directed their tone and the vital vocal collaboration with EERA to capture this industrial experimental creation whilst still being accessible and contemporary. This bold rhythm emerges and consumes the atmosphere alongside this remarkable energy simmering throughout. The synth notes alongside the expressive percussive elements unite to capture this bright, warming and despite its direct momentum, joyous elements soar. This fierce and robust energy collides into every angular direction this release explores, consistently raising the intensity within the far-reaching exploration. Public Service Broadcasting win the BBC 6 Music Rebel Playlist!". Popular News. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013 . Retrieved 19 May 2012. As well as EERA, the album’s other guest voices include Blixa Bargeld, veteran of The Bad Seeds and Einstürzende Neubauten, who becomes the voice of Berlin’s industry on the robo-teknik “Der Rhythmus der Maschinen”. Andreya Casablanca of Berlin garageistes Gurr stands in for Marlene Dietrich in “ My Blue Heaven”, an anthem of proud self-determination.

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More anthemic still is the Marlene Dietrich-inspired Blue Heaven, a chugging bassline, motorik beat and rousing flourishes from Wilgoose’s guitar fusing together as Andreya Casablanca sings “I am all my own invention, I’m in my blue heaven”. It’s one of those huge, universal Public Service Broadcasting productions expertly honed to roll out across massed festival crowds next summer. Public Service Broadcasting will release their fourth album, Bright Magic, on 24th September 2021 via Play It Again Sam. An album in three parts (Building A City / Building A Myth / Bright Magic), it is their most ambitious undertaking yet, bringing you to Europe’s heart and de facto capital, the cultural and political metropolis that is the ‘Hauptstadt’ of the Federal Republic of Germany – Berlin.

Sheffield, Hazel (6 February 2014). "Public Service Broadcasting keep calm and carry on". The Guardian. Elfstedentocht Parts 1 & 2". Banquet Records. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016 . Retrieved 8 May 2015. In a sense, this mirrors Berlin’s postwar journey, from being invidiously twinned to emerging into an uncertain new light and embracing the radical shapes into which it had to take. Closer Ich und die Stadt floats between these realities, actress Nina Hoss voicing over, but that the words are in German is incidental, its spectral washes the ideal complement to a nighttime view from way above its present and past skylines. Whilst it might be an overstatement to describe Bright Magic as a calculated barb at the lumpy mass-consciousness of English nationalism, its conceits are obvious; the thematic construct it’s based around this time is a destination not a cultural waypoint, and that celebrated place is the German capital of Berlin.Public Service Broadcasting announce their return with 'Progress' ". DIY. 9 March 2017 . Retrieved 28 October 2018. Sherwin, Adam (25 June 2015). "Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, Public Service Broadcasting all nominated for Progressive Music Awards 2015". The Independent . Retrieved 5 July 2015. Spitfire" – 26 March 2012 [26] [27] [28] [29] which won the BBC Radio 6 Music Rebel Playlist. [30] The song sampled dialogue and sound from the 1942 film " The First of the Few", and the video incorporated footage from the same film. At one level Bright Magic represents both a bold departure and Public Service Broadcasting’s most ambitious outing yet; largely dispensing with the tics which made you sort of famous is a skin-shedding which often results in confused audiences and a messy halfway house of unfulfilled ideas. J F Abraham – flugelhorn, bass guitar, drums, assorted other instruments including a vibraslap, electronic musical instruments, arrangements (2016–present; session contributions 2014–2015)