(Play It Again Sam)Berlin is the inspiration for the band’s inventive if melancholy fourth album
As with its predecessors’ focus on the space race and the
British coal industry, there’s a strong thematic concept to Public Service Broadcasting’s Bright Magic. This time it’s a selective history of
Berlin, split into three distinct movements: the city’s rise, a celebration of Weimar-era hedonism and a more abstract three-track requiem. Every Valley, released in 2017, felt like a transitional record: the artfully chosen speech samples that had so defined their first two albums were complemented then by a handful of guest singers.
Bright Magic feels like a logical next step, with fewer samples, and the likes of Blixa Bargeld, Nina Hoss and Eera much more foregrounded. The downside is that, for all the invention on display here, J Willgoose Esq and Wrigglesworth have lost some of their USP with this shift in focus.