Public Service Broadcasting brought their multi instrumental electronic indie to a small, but very enthusiastic crowd at the Mod Club on Sunday, prompting band creator J. Willgoose, Esq. to ask us if we knew it was a Sunday.
The three-piece opened with offerings from third studio album Every Valley, charting the progress and decline of the Welsh coal mining industry. The samples featured in the album were masterfully chosen and accompanied by instrumentals, they weave a compelling and emotionally affecting story. Their live performance includes a video wall of mining scenes, shots across the Welsh valleys, and the struggle of the miners against the police brought into strong arm the miner’s strike of 1984-85. Willgoose also paid homage to the women of the miner’s strike, their political awakening and how they found their voice in our democracy, a lovely sentiment that fit well with the uplifting music accompanying it.
I expected a full album play through with such a rich subject, but the band played a healthy mix of tracks from their past Albums The Race for Space and Inform – Educate – Entertain, accompanied by stock footage of Cosmonauts, rockets and scenes of wartime Britain. The set played well on a relaxed Sunday night, feeling cheering and melodious. They really do feel like a band apart, with their layers of instruments and audio samples, not to mention their layers of dapper corduroy.
