Public Service Broadcasting return once more with their latest concept album, The Last Flight.
There are a few subtle changes in the world of PSB for this one. Previous albums have been many stories under one overarching concept (The blitz, space exploration, South Wales mining or Berlin) but this time it’s concentrated on one person’s story, Amelia Earhart, and one specific part of their life.
This is therefore a more intimate and personal album than before.
The second big change is there are no recordings of Amelia Earhart to sample so instead extracts from her diaries and letters have been read by Kate Graham and made to sound like contemporary recordings. It works surprisingly well as a technique.
The Fun of It see the vocalist Andreya Casablanca reunited with the band after her turn on Bright Magic. A joyously upbeat piece of pop music it’s almost impossible not to smile whilst playing it.
The first single, Electra bounces along in classic funky PSB style and the closest in character to the early hits. There is fun to be had spotting the samples from previous PSB songs such as Korolev, Spitfire and Everest near the end of the song
Monsoons is a dark and ominous piece with a teeth rattling bass section and some of the most strident guitar work that Willgoose has every committed to tape.
The near 9 minute string laden coda of Howland showcases all that the band learnt from their work at the BBC proms to produce a sumptuous, orchestral but poignant ending to the album
A much better album than Bright Magic and possibly their best work since The Race For Space