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Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases
Public Service Broadcasting to explore Berlin on new album
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 3 June 2021
Public Service Broadcasting have announced that they will release their fourth album, ‘Bright Magic’, this autumn. Having made music about the Space Race and the Welsh coal mining industry on their last two records, this one will focus on Berlin.
“Doing this felt inevitable, somehow”, says the band’s J Willgoose. “In my head, it was whirring and pulsing away for a long time, even before [2017 album] ‘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”.
The record aims to capture the city’s energy, both figuratively and quite literally. For one track on the album, Willgoose used an electromagnetic receiver to record the pulses of street lamps and electrical cables.
“I walked up and down recording electrical currents and interference”, he explains. “You can hear a few of these little frequency buzzes, clicks and impulses in ‘Im Licht’ – a song inspired in part by pioneering lightbulb manufacturers AEG and Siemens. It’s what I was trying to do in the wider sense, I suppose – to capture those tiny little pulses you pick up while walking through a city”.
‘Bright Magic’ is set for release through Play It Again Sam on 24 Sep. The first single from the album, ‘People, Let’s Dance’, incorporates the guitar riff from Depeche Mode’s ‘People Are People’ and features vocals from Berlin-based musician Eera.
The band have also announced UK tour dates set to follow the release of the album. And here they all are…
24 Oct: Cardiff University Great Hall
25 Oct: Brighton, Dome
26 Oct: Bristol, Academy
27 Oct: Exeter, The Great Hall
28 Oct: Southampton, Guildhall
30 Oct: Aylesbury, Friars Waterside
31 Oct: Birmingham, Institute
1 Nov: Leeds, Academy
2 Nov: Llandudno, Venue Cymru
4 Nov: Manchester, Apollo
5 Nov: Newcastle, City Hall
6 Nov: Aberdeen, Music Hall
7 Nov: Glasgow, Barrowland
9 Nov: Nottingham, Rock City
10 Nov: London, Brixton Academy
11 Nov: Cambridge, Corn Exchange