PSB mining down-to-earth territory
Rmike.alexander@fairfaxmedia.co.nz PUBLIC Service Broadcasting are indelibly linked to New Zealand.
When the British electronic duo – J Willgoose Esq and Wrigglesworth – were in their infancy, they released their second single Everest, which featured spoken word dialogue and film footage from the BBC archives of Kiwi Sir Edmund Hillary’s conquest of Mt Everest.
The group took samples from old public information films, and backdropped them with music to ‘‘teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future’’.
The video for Everest is based on the 1953 film The Conquest of Everest, which told the story of Hillary and Tensing Norgay’s ascent that year of the tallest mountain in the world. The film was directed by George Lowe, a member of that historic expedition.
Public Service Broadcasting return with their third album Sam Scannell Every Valley due for release on July 7.
After two years up in the stratosphere with the hugely successful The Race For Space, Public Service Broadcasting are returning to earth.
Willgoose, now has an established reputation for weaving forensic, historical research into evocative storytelling. This time he is taking us on a journey down the mineshafts of the South Wales valleys and using the history of coal mining to shine a light on the disenfranchised.
‘‘Our third album, Every Valley, is a story of industrial decline,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s centred around coal mining in the UK, and in south Wales in particular, but it’s a story which has been repeated the [Western] world over and which has particularly striking resonances given the current political climate.
‘‘I have no personal ties to mining, be it coal or otherwise, and I have no family links to the area but something about the story drew me in. This is an album about community as much as it is about mining; it’s the story of an entire region centred around one industry, and what happens when that industry dies,’’ Willgoose says.
‘‘Perhaps something about the romanticism of the valleys and their geography drew me to south Wales in particular, perhaps it was their solidity during the strike of 1984-85 – or, far more prosaically, perhaps it was a response to the furious [mostly Cardiff-based] response to our 2015 UK tour which featured not a single Welsh date. You can’t always explain these things, as I’ve learned.
‘‘What’s certain in my mind is that this album isn’t just about mining and isn’t just about Wales. It’s a story reflected in abandoned and neglected communities across the Western world, and one which has led to the resurgence of a particularly malignant, cynical and calculating brand of politics,’’ Willgoose says.
Every Valley was recorded in Ebbw Vale, historically a steelworkers’ town but one surrounded by coal mines.
‘‘It seemed important to record in the valleys, as I wanted this album to feel connected to the area it was written about in ways our previous albums hadn’t been. I wanted the album to have a rich, earthy, full sound, and to carry some of the lilt and lyricism of the language itself, something embodied by its title, taken from a 1950s transport film. It hints at peaks and troughs, at the strength and solidity of the community and the geographical reality of the industry.
‘‘For me it’s an album about pride, anger, strength and, ultimately, loss, and it raises far more questions than we could ever hope to answer. I think Every Valley is the best thing we’ve done by some distance but ultimately that’s not for me to say,’’ Willgoose says.