Public Service Broadcasting look for 'Bright Magic' with news of their forthcoming new album
It's conceptualised around Berlin as a European metropolis
Public Service Broadcasting have announced the forthcoming release of their new album ‘Bright Magic’ on September 24 via Play It Again Sam.
The lead single ‘People, Let’s Dance’, featuring vocals from Berlin-based musician EERA was released this week, and is a bustling track that finds movement through a frustration of confinement.
‘Bright Magic’ is intended as an album in three parts - ‘Building A City’, ‘Building A Myth’ and ‘Bright Magic’ - and centres on Berlin as a European metropolis.
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Speaking on the conception of the album, J. Willgoose, Esq has said, “Doing this felt inevitable, somehow. 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, 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…”
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With their classic mix of electronic elements and pulsing guitars, ‘Bright Magic’ moves away from relying so heavily on samples, and particularly samples in English. One heavily used sample, however, is Walter Ruttmann’s 1928 tape artwork ‘Wochenende’, sampled on three different album tracks. It portrays the sonic evolution of the city using field recordings and snippets of recorded speech. This inspired the conception of ‘Bright Magic’.
The band have also announced a slew of UK tour dates for October and November 2021.
Listen to ‘People, Let’s Dance’ below.
Public Service Broadcasting tour dates
October
Sun 24 Cardiff University Great Hall
Mon 25 Brighton Dome
Tues 26 Bristol O2 Academy
Wed 27 Exeter The Great Hall
Thurs 28 Southampton O2 Guildhall
Sat 30 Aylesbury Friars Waterside
Sun 31 Birmingham O2 Institute
November
Mon 1 Leeds O2 Academy
Tues 2 Llandudno Venue Cymru
Thurs 4 Manchester O2 Apollo
Fri 5 Newcastle O2 City Hall
Sat 6 Aberdeen Music Hall
Sun 7 Glasgow Barrowland
Tues 9 Nottingham Rock City
Wed 10 London O2 Brixton Academy
Thurs 11 Cambridge Corn Exchange
Jemima Skala is Mixmag’s Weekend Editor. Follow her on Twitter
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