Conceptual quartet Public Service Broadcasting is set to release their highly anticipated new album in September, and to celebrate, they’ve shared another impressive glimpse, the sensational, ‘Blue Heaven’.
After announcing the new record, ‘Bright Magic’ back in June, the unique post-rock troupe have shared a few details about the album, including its central concept which has been inspired by the city of Berlin. An album in three parts (Building A City / Building A Myth / Bright Magic), it's set to be their most ambitious undertaking yet and even includes vocals from Einstürzende Neubauten leader Blixa Bargeld. The whole album is steeped in the mythology and reality of the city, with bandmember J. Willgoose, Esq. having moved there for a year. While there, he took inspiration from walking around the city but also working at Hansa, the studio where Bowie made ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’, and where U2 made ‘Achtung Baby’. As a result, ‘Bright Magic’ became a concept album about the city but also the music that has moved in and out of it through the decades.
So far, the group has shared a lead single called ‘People, Let’s Dance’, however, their new single finds Public Service Broadcasting teaming up with Andreya Casablanca, from the Berlin band Gurr, creating a dreamy banger filled with cathartic guitar breaks.
‘Blue Heaven’ has been inspired by Marlene Dietrich, who according to the band’s J. Willgoose, Esq. was “a self-made myth to come out of Berlin”. He explained, “the lyrics highlight her power of self-manipulation, her ambition, her bravery and her lack of compromise on vital matters of character - 'I am all my own invention / I'm in my blue heaven' and so on. It's named after the jazz number My Blue Heaven which she sang regularly and which she said first made her dream of America.”
“I walked up and down recording electrical currents and interference,” he continued. “You can hear a few of these little frequency buzzes, clicks and impulses in ‘Im Licht’ (a song inspired in part by pioneering lightbulb manufacturers AEG and Siemens). It’s what I was trying to do in the wider sense, I suppose – to capture those tiny little pulses you pick up while walking through a city.”
Alex Southam directed the video for ‘Blue Heaven’, which features Celine Fortenbacher channelling the energies of the song in her movements.
‘Bright Magic’ is set to arrive on September 24th via Play It Again Sam, and can be pre-ordered now.
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