Public Service Broadcasting – Bright Magic (LP)

Album Info Hide Show Artist: Public Service Broadcasting Album: Bright Magic Released: Europe, 2021 Tracklist: A1 Der Sumpf (Sinfonie Der Grostadt) A2 Im Licht A3 Der Rhythmus Der Maschinen A4 People, Let’s Dance A5 Blue Heaven A6 Gib Mir Das Licht B1 The Visitor B2 Lichtspiel I: Opus B3 Lichtspiel II: Schwarz Weiss Grau B4 Lichtspiel III: Symphonie Diagonale B5 Ich Und Die Stadt Info About Buying Vinyl From Our Record Store We are a small independent record store located at 211 High St, Preston in Melbourne, Australia (North of Northcote, between Thornbury & Reservoir) We buy and sell new and used vinyl records – if you have a collection you’d like to sell please click here . We ship Australia wide for a flat rate of $10 for standard shipping or $15 for express post. Free Shipping for orders $150 and over. You can also pick up your order in store, just select Local Pickup at the checkout. We also ship internationally – prices vary depending on weight and location. 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If you change your mind you have 30 days to return your record but you must cover the cost of returning it to the store. You can contact our Melbourne record shop at (03) 9939 3807 or at [email protected] Happy Listening! Description Hide Show Public Service Broadcasting have always been cratediggers and collagists, but Bright Magic is the record where their obsessions lock into a single citys pulse. Berlin becomes both subject and instrument. The band decamped there, wrote with the skyline in view, and cut the album at Hansa Tonstudio, the storied space where Bowies Heroes took shape, where U2 chased Achtung Baby, and where Depeche Mode forged steel and glass into synth pop. You can hear the room in these tracks, a natural echo that flatters drums and brass, a little air around the synths that feels like streetlights hitting wet cobblestones. It unfolds in three acts, almost like the sides of a silent film reel: building a city, building a myth, then stepping into the bright magic itself. They lean into German language and German modernism, and it suits them. The opener Der Sumpf (Sinfonie der Grostadt) nods to Walter Ruttmanns 1927 documentary about Berlins daily churn. The bands usual patchwork of samples gives way to something more sculpted, less winkandnudge. Patterns accrete, neon glows, you feel dawn trains beginning to move. People, Lets Dance, with Norwegian singer EERA out front, is a sugary shot of radioready motorik. It clicks and shuffles, as if a crate of cosmic disco 12inches were fed through a Korg sequencer and set loose at Tresor. EERAs vocal is cool to the touch, but the beat is pure invitation. A few tracks later, the tone shifts. Der Rhythmus der Maschinen brings in Blixa Bargeld of Einstrzende Neubauten, whose spoken cadence rides a grimy, pistonlike groove. It is the hum of industry, the clang of ateliers and rail depots, a reminder that the citys romance was built with hands and heat. Blue Heaven, sung by Andreya Casablanca of Berlin duo Gurr, is the records swoon. It is a love letter to Marlene Dietrich, an icon who recast Berlin on her own terms. Casablancas voice cuts through like a marquee bulb flickering on, and the arrangement blooms into something glamorous without getting syrupy. Public Service Broadcasting have always had heart behind the cleverness. This time they show it in plain sight, celebrating a star who made the city shimmer for a century of dreamers. Elsewhere, the band lace the album with Lichtspiel interludes that tip the hat to early avantgarde cinema. These pieces act like dissolves between scenes, short studies in texture and motion that keep the narrative flowing. J. Willgoose, Esq. stitches the whole thing with synths and treated guitar, JF Abrahams brass and low end ground it, and Wrigglesworth drums like a metronome with personality. The trios chemistry is the quiet story here. Even as guests step forward, the groups identity never blurs. Because this is Public Service Broadcasting, there are voices throughout, but the sampling feels more curated, more respectful. Snippets in German are folded into arrangements like another instrument, not as punchlines or artifacts. The result is a record that feels livedin, not museumlike. It is easy to imagine these pieces bleeding out of a courtyard bar in Kreuzberg around midnight, or flickering from a rep cinema between prints of old city symphonies. On vinyl the mood really takes hold. Bright Magic vinyl has the scale and warmth you want from these arrangements, especially when the brass opens up or the drums start to breathe in the room. If you collect Public Service Broadcasting vinyl, this has become one of the discs you pull to show the range of their craft, a pivot from spacerace drama and coalvalley reportage to something cinematic and nocturnal. It is also the sort of album you could recommend to someone browsing a Melbourne record store on vacation, flipping through new releases and asking where to start with Public Service Broadcasting albums on vinyl. Tell them to begin here, then work backward. Fans will clock the growth, casual listeners will hear a band who can write big hooks without losing their thoughtfulness, and Berlin heads will appreciate the care taken with the references. If you like your shelves to tell a story, this one sits comfortably next to Bowies Berlin run and anything touched by Hansas long shadow. And if you are looking to buy Public Service Broadcasting records online, this is the one that bridges the catalog, a concept album that actually sticks the landing. The city comes through intact, history and nightlife, soot and glitter. Bright magic, indeed. Product Reviews Hide Show Write a Review