“We meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance...” Those words by John F. Kennedy, presented here echoing over a ghostly female chorus, herald the latest experimental treat by Public Service Broadcasting, a weird, unexpected, sometimes goofy, sometimes spooky, and ultimately fantastic offering by the London electronic duo.
If you aren’t familiar with the pair, here’s an abridged version of their shtick; the boys dig up old audio clips from speeches or other archival documents, mix ‘em, splice ‘em, and put ‘em to music. It seems like a gimmick, but in their capable hands the material is extremely focused, compelling and fun. The duo expertly reconcile danceable electro-rock with meditative musings on man’s place in the cosmos (pass the joint).
The band consists only of guitarist/keyboardist J. Willgoose and drummer Wrigglesworth, but they beef up their sound on this record with brass and strings to stunning effect.
‘Gagarin’ is a glorious, riff-heavy dance track dedicated to Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to venture into outer space. The track is irresistibly joyous and funny, but a somewhat blunt transition takes you into the sobering ‘Fire in the Cockpit’, featuring narration about a fatal emergency onboard a spacecraft. The ominous, droning music provides a suitably haunting backdrop.
Another standout is ‘The Other Side’, where the approach and orbit of the moon by Apollo 8 are set to the tune of a buoyant, uplifting track that moves and changes with the narrative. It’s fascinating stuff.
The record ends with ‘Tomorrow’, where the band employ a technique familiar from tracks such as The Beatles’ ‘A Day in the Life’ and Beck’s ‘Ramshackle’: a long bout of silence at the end of the song, before a coda eventually surfaces. In this case the sequence takes the form of a dreamy, floating synth/string suite that mesmerises with its beauty. A plaintive ending to a thrilling trip to the stars.

Key Track - 'The Other Side'