It’s been a whole year but finally the recording of the Public Service Broadcasting love letter to the BBC performed at the Proms has been released. 

This New Noise encapsulates all that is so brilliant about this band – The imagination, the story telling and, in this case, seamlessly adding an 80 piece orchestra to the mix.

 

A lot of bands add strings to their songs, but this is a whole new level of sound and is done to absolute perfection. The orchestration makes everything sound so huge and heroic without overshadowing the band at the centre of it. 

 

It’s not a long album (50mins) and need to be heard as a whole rather than as individual tracks. It’s a more sedate, grandiose statement than previous albums and there’s not a Blue Heaven or Gagarin to get your feet twitching but it’s no worse for that.

 

Highlights include the bombastic This New Noise, the terribly British sample at the beginning of Broadcasting House and the 9 minute epic of The Microphone which even includes some of Lit Up from the debut album.

 

The inclusion of Seth Lakeman to provide vocals on the A Cello Sings in Daventry is an interesting interlude that adds some variety among the samples (which as always on a PSB album are impeccable in their context and use).

 

I remember watching the Prom and hoping it would be recorded and thankfully they did an amazing job with it. Need to get myself a vinyl copy of this as soon as possible.