Bright Magic - Public Service Broadcasting: Review
Public Service Broadcasting
are an English instrumental and progressive rock band known for their highly conceptual albums which in their early days made heavy use of recordings that were available on public record. Their breakout project was 2015's The Race For Space a concept album that used instrumental passages and a myriad of audio recordings to tell the story of the cold war era space race across the record. They followed it up in 2018 with an even more narrative focused record following the collapse of the British mining industry.
Review By Lav:
This band has always felt like a little secret of mine. Sure they get more press in England than over here in the states but plenty of indie acts have managed to cross the Atlantic and achieve strong fanbases here. For some reason Public Service Broadcasting never seemed to have the level of acclaim that their highly conceptual and unique albums warranted. I liked their debut but The Race For Space really blew me away a few years later and I was similarly impressed by Every Valley. After hearing a couple of the singles leading up to this record I was certainly curious and a little skeptical of what I perceived as a new direction for the band. While this is their most impressionistic narrative to date there is still a highly conceptual approach to the music on this album and the singles that seemed to shift the bands sound into a synth pop and dance direction certainly make more sense in context. While it doesn't quite blow me away like records before, the band made me look silly for doubting them.
Bright Magic saw the normally London based trio go on an expenditure to Berlin, which historically isn't the worst idea you could have as a musical act. But they took that journey in a more serious and literal way than most. Bright Magic is a concept album loosely telling the history of Berlin while touching on some of its most recognizable characteristics and cultural exports and featuring a variety of local talents.
All of that makes People Lets Dance an even more confusing single, it's a dance cut with the interpolation of the key riff from Depeche Mode's People Are People. It also features a German vocalist who's very static performance sort of lends itself to the rigid club vibes of the track. It sounds fine while it's on but sounds extremely out of character for the band and only makes slightly more sense within the context of the album. Blue Heaven is much better as an upbeat 80's synth pop number with another feature from a Berlin based vocalist but one that I think fits a lot better. The song has a thick almost shoegazey hook over which her vocals sound great. I've grown to appreciate this more and more since it came out.
This record has a number of tracks that stick to the pretty strict instrumental palettes of the bands early days. For the most part they are good but they never quite feel like the thematic focus of the record. I'm Licht is the opener with distant robotic vocals and a prog-rock like progression that starts the record off on a high. The other notable track of the like is Gib mir das Licht a very reserved and dreamy cut that sways back and forth in a compelling manner. I know I talk about drums a lot in reviews and I'm kind of obsessed with percussion but this song has excellent drumming and as a huge slowcore fan I think it's a great inclusion.
Der Rhythmus der Maschinen of Rhythm Of The Machines features former Bad Seed Blixa Bargeld on vocals and pays tribute to Berlin's industrial side with some ever so slightly heavier instrumentation and metallic drums to sell the point. It's a cool idea but with the bright lines of synths the band never really stops sounding like themselves loosely cosplaying as industrial. The closing track Ich und die Stadt is an atmospheric finale primarily featuring spoke word vocals hanging over everything. Obviously there is a language barrier between me and truly understanding the intent behind the song but from what I can translate through my own efforts it seems like the band did make a legitimate attempt at summing up their whole Berlin experience in a finale. The crashing waves of instrumentation that compliment the spoken refrains are really just icing on the cake for the song.
The biggest undertaking on the record is Lichtspiel parts I, II and III. The suite is a trio of three post-rock meets ambient meets industrial compositions inspired by the early experimental German filmmakers and their work which focused heavily in abstraction. If it all sounds like it was specifically designed for me, you won't be surprised to know that I love it. It sounds just as amazing as I expected with the first piece serving as a grand electronic post-rock rise that really does feel like discovering something amazing for the first time. Part 2 is pure Kraftwerk worship with more percussion that really does complete the composition perfectly. The conclusion is a piano dominated pseudo ambient fade out to the whole grand experience.
Bright Magic isn't quite the undertaking that the bands previous two records were and it sees the band stepping outside their sonic comfort zone in order to better tell the story of Berlin. The concept of the record is compelling and heightens these individual tracks, though ignoring some of the flaws on a song to song basis is difficult after multiple listens. This isn't what I would call a defining work for the band even though it stands out in the world of contemporary music but that's more of a testament to how good their back catalog it. Overall Bright Magic is a solid and somewhat cohesive outing with a few of the highs that you'd expect and nothing that ever really feels truly redundant or egregious. 7/10
This cover is simple and effective. The design is to the point and the coloring is striking against the contrasting black background. It's nothing that is super exciting but it's done well. The text is well designed and I like the way it's laid out, however I think it would have benefitted from being put in the middle because of the pieces lack of subject. 6.5/10
For more instrumental rock check out my review of Mogwai's As The Love Continues here
