Public Service Broadcasting - Bright Magic (LP) - Orange/Black Marbled Vinyl

Public Service Broadcasting have always been crate‑diggers and collagists, but Bright Magic is the record where their obsessions lock into a single city’s pulse. Berlin becomes both subject and instrument. The band decamped there, wrote with the skyline in view, and cut the album at Hansa Tonstudio, the storied space where Bowie’s Heroes took shape, where U2 chased Achtung Baby, and where Depeche Mode forged steel and glass into synth pop. You can hear the room in these tracks, a natural echo that flatters drums and brass, a little air around the synths that feels like streetlights hitting wet cobblestones.

It unfolds in three acts, almost like the sides of a silent film reel: building a city, building a myth, then stepping into the “bright magic” itself. They lean into German language and German modernism, and it suits them. The opener “Der Sumpf (Sinfonie der Großstadt)” nods to Walter Ruttmann’s 1927 documentary about Berlin’s daily churn. The band’s usual patchwork of samples gives way to something more sculpted, less wink‑and‑nudge. Patterns accrete, neon glows, you feel dawn trains beginning to move.

“People, Let’s Dance,” with Norwegian singer EERA out front, is a sugary shot of radio‑ready motorik. It clicks and shuffles, as if a crate of cosmic disco 12‑inches were fed through a Korg sequencer and set loose at Tresor. EERA’s vocal is cool to the touch, but the beat is pure invitation. A few tracks later, the tone shifts. “Der Rhythmus der Maschinen” brings in Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten, whose spoken cadence rides a grimy, piston‑like groove. It is the hum of industry, the clang of ateliers and rail depots, a reminder that the city’s romance was built with hands and heat.

“Blue Heaven,” sung by Andreya Casablanca of Berlin duo Gurr, is the record’s swoon. It is a love letter to Marlene Dietrich, an icon who recast Berlin on her own terms. Casablanca’s voice cuts through like a marquee bulb flickering on, and the arrangement blooms into something glamorous without getting syrupy. Public Service Broadcasting have always had heart behind the cleverness. This time they show it in plain sight, celebrating a star who made the city shimmer for a century of dreamers.

Elsewhere, the band lace the album with “Lichtspiel” interludes that tip the hat to early avant‑garde cinema. These pieces act like dissolves between scenes, short studies in texture and motion that keep the narrative flowing. J. Willgoose, Esq. stitches the whole thing with synths and treated guitar, JF Abraham’s brass and low end ground it, and Wrigglesworth drums like a metronome with personality. The trio’s chemistry is the quiet story here. Even as guests step forward, the group’s identity never blurs.

Because this is Public Service Broadcasting, there are voices throughout, but the sampling feels more curated, more respectful. Snippets in German are folded into arrangements like another instrument, not as punchlines or artifacts. The result is a record that feels lived‑in, not museum‑like. It is easy to imagine these pieces bleeding out of a courtyard bar in Kreuzberg around midnight, or flickering from a rep cinema between prints of old city symphonies.

On vinyl the mood really takes hold. Bright Magic vinyl has the scale and warmth you want from these arrangements, especially when the brass opens up or the drums start to breathe in the room. If you collect Public Service Broadcasting vinyl, this has become one of the discs you pull to show the range of their craft, a pivot from space‑race drama and coal‑valley reportage to something cinematic and nocturnal. It is also the sort of album you could recommend to someone browsing a Melbourne record store on vacation, flipping through new releases and asking where to start with Public Service Broadcasting albums on vinyl. Tell them to begin here, then work backward.

Fans will clock the growth, casual listeners will hear a band who can write big hooks without losing their thoughtfulness, and Berlin heads will appreciate the care taken with the references. If you like your shelves to tell a story, this one sits comfortably next to Bowie’s Berlin run and anything touched by Hansa’s long shadow. And if you are looking to buy Public Service Broadcasting records online, this is the one that bridges the catalog, a concept album that actually sticks the landing. The city comes through intact, history and nightlife, soot and glitter. Bright magic, indeed.