Teacher: You can’t listen to music in my history class!
Pupil: But sir. It’s Public Service Broadcasting
Teacher: Say no more. I’ll get my speaker.
Anyone who can successfully combine a history lesson with catchy electronica and cinematic rock and orchestra is surely eying up a hefty contract with the Department of Education.
Public Service Broadcasting, with the ultimate corduroy laden supplier teacher pastiche are back for another excellent lesson. Their 5th album, The Last Flight recounts the story of pioneering female “aviatrix” Amelia Earhart. Earhart was the highest solo flying woman at 25, and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans before disappearing somewhere over the Central Pacific in 1937 attempting to circumnavigate the globe.
This air of pioneering triumph, of freedom and ultimate mysticism carries through the duration of The Last Flight. Despite her disappearance, and that tinge of grief of a life and career cut short, this is a sonic celebration.
Tracks such as Electra picks up many of PSB’s signature sounds, combining archival recordings with pulsating electronic drums and euphoric synth as heard on iconic albums like Inform, Educate, Entertain and The Race for Space.
Machines, new technology, spirit and triumph against adversity and negotiating societal change is very PSB, and I’m here for it, but the softer, more gentle explorations of human feeling is where this album feels fresher. The Fun of It featuring Andrea Casablanca and stand out track, The South Atlantic featuring This is the Kit’s Kate Stables, explores a more personal sense of belonging and boundary pushing. It’s about the exhilaration of flying but also the purpose of Earhart’s own sense of existence. There’s also an interesting conflict between the love for her husband and her love of flying on A Different Kind of Love featuring EERA.
Speaking about the album, PSB’s head of history J. Willgoose Esq. said “I wanted to do a woman-focused story, because most of the archive we have access to is overwhelmingly male. [Earhart’s| bravery and her aeronautical achievements were extraordinary, but her philosophy and the dignity that she had… she was an outstanding person”.
There are plenty of enjoyable tracks on here, but this feels better consumed as a story to be heard from start to finish in one go, in contrast to previous PSB offerings. The Last Flight lives up to the true arc of the concept album, like a plane journey itself, drifting slowly but with real purpose through the atmosphere across the curve of the earth, and we;re staring out the window to endless possibility as the light fades from the day.
