Public Service Broadcasting look for 'Bright Magic' with news of their forthcoming new album

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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