In Focus: Public Service Broascasting

Scott Rich

Ever wonder what would happen if you took audio clips of historical archive footage, mix it with modern electronic prog, and a bit of whimsical classical music sensibility? (Haven't we all?) Why you'd get Public Service Broadcasting of course!

Public Service Broadcasting have a unique musical concept. Led by “J. Willgoose, Esq.”, a multi-instrumentalist, and initially joined by “Wrigglesworth” on drums, piano and electronics.

PSB began as a solo project of Willgoose, who released EP One in 2009. That 4-song EP was originally issued on 10” vinyl and only limited to 250 copies sold at the band's shows. According to Discogs the original versions of these songs are only available on that vinyl release, as the samples used to make it were not “cleared”. For later releases, the songs were completely re-recorded. I did find the tracks on YouTube claiming to be from the EP, but I cannot say with certainty that these are the actual original tracks. I really enjoyed Introduction (Let Yourself Go). It is my belief that Wrigglesworth played on this as well, although details seem to be hard to come by.

A second EP, this time with 5 tracks, appeared in 2012, titled, The War Room . The theme this time around is World War II. According to Wikipedia, “The EP is dedicated to J. Willgoose, Esq's great-uncle George Willgoose who died at Dunkirk”. Willgoose and Wrigglesworth are joined by a string player named Stephen Hackshaw. The title track has a Pink Floyd vibe, musically, with the interspersed historical recordings. London Can Take It, even has J. Willgoose, Esq. on banjo. The closing track seems to be a reference to great-uncle George, being called Waltz for George.

The first full length PSB album arrived in 2013, titled Inform-Educate-Entertain . The title is the BBC's original directive.

The full line-up for the album is as follows:

• J. Willgoose, Esq. – guitars, bass, banjo, banjolele, mandola, sampling, keys, electronics, percussion badly, arrangements
• Wrigglesworth – drums, alto saxophone (track 11), cargo crowd shot photography
• Stephen Hackshaw – skilfully-constructed samples (tracks 3, 11)
• Robert Greenwood – flugelhorn, trumpet (tracks 6, 10)
• Ed Mills – French horn (tracks 6, 10)
• Owen Wales – trombone (tracks 6, 10)
• Andy Fell – tenor saxophone (track 11)

PSB are masterful, even in this early stage, in the way that they take decades old audio and make it seem seamless with modern music.

The title track is something of an overture, as it uses snippets of sounds found on the rest of the tracks on the album. The album includes Spitfire from The War Room and a new version of Theme from PSB, from EP One.

There is not a central theme on this album, as the songs reference several different archival films. Signal 30 is from a 1959 road safety film, like that they would show in driver's ed class. The music in it rocks hard, though; I really like it. ROYGBIV is about the invention of colour television.

Lit Up is an interesting one. In a nutshell, a drunken retired naval officer turned BBC commentator (Thomas Woodruffe) is commenting on a royal review of the naval fleet, in 1937. Everest, is obviously, about a 1953 Mount Everest expedition.

The album did quite well, reaching #21 on the UK albums chart. That same year, they also released a single / EP based around the track Signal 30.

The second PSB album dropped in 2015, called The Race for Space , which, as the title indicates, is about the Soviet/US space race between 1957-1972. The opening title track contains excerpts from John F. Kennedy's famous speech in 1962 regarding space exploration.

Titles such as Sputnik and Gagarin are pretty self-explanatory. Fire in the Cockpit is about the 1967 Apollo 1 disaster, while Go! is about the 1969 moon landing. J. Willgoose, Esq., and Wrigglesworth are the two official band members, while they are augmented by many additional musicians.

While the subject has changed, the overall sound remains similar, of course with new melodies that fit the vibe of each song.

The album did even better than the debut, hitting #11 on the UK album charts and #1 on the UK independent album chart, additionally hitting #25 on the New Zealand album chart. The album is certified gold in the UK indicating 100,000 sales in that country.

Another EP, Sputnik/Khorolev, followed the album. In the period following the release of The Race for Space, PSB performed notable shows at the National Space Center in Leicester, UK and O2 Academy Brixton (among others). The Brixton show was recorded for the album Live at Brixton , released in 2016. The live album credits two new PSB members for the first time: JF Abraham: Bass, flugelhorn, electronics, percussion, arrangements, and Mr. B: Set design, visuals. Additionally, Admiral Huxley Tattershall is listed as the voice of PSB.

Album #3 was released in 2017. Every Valley is based on the rise and fall of the coal mining industry in Wales. They recorded it in Ebbw Vale, a former coal mining and steel manufacturing center in Wales, in order to be close to the source material. According to Willgoose (via Wikipedia):

The album's premise as an allegory for today's "abandoned and neglected communities across the western world", which have led to a "malignant, cynical and calculating brand of politics." Willgoose

The album's line up consists of official members Willgoose, Wrigglesworth, and JF Abraham and multiple guest musicians. The album's fourth track, Progress was inspired by Krautrock legends Kraftwork. Some notable guest vocalists include James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers on Turn No More and Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura on Progress, both of whom are said to be musical heroes of J. Willgoose, Esq.

Also appearing on the album are Haiku Salut (a UK instrumental trio) on They Gave Me a Lamp, and Welsh language vocalist Lisa Jên Brown, of the band 9Bach on You + Me. Just prior to the album's release, the band played two concerts in Ebbw Vale, where the album was recorded.

The addition of guest vocalists gives a fresh feel to their sound, although the archival recordings are still a key element.

In 2018, The band appeared on a BBC program called Biggest Weekend Event, held in the “Titanic Quarter” in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on which they performed 4 new songs about the Titanic. These songs were released as an EP called White Star Liner in 2018. It begins with The Unsinkable Ship, continues with the title track, C-Q-D and concludes with The Deep.

Up next for PSB was a performance commissioned by the BBC with a new arrangement of The Race for Space in June 2019.

The next studio album, number four, 2021's Bright Magic , is a homage to the city of Berlin, Germany. Inspired by a sound piece created on recording tape by Walter Ruttmann in 1928, called Wochenende (Weekend), which is a collage of spoken words and sounds of Berlin at night. When J. Willgoose, Esq. heard it, he wanted to make his own version. He got the title Bright Magic in his mind, and went about writing the album. His inspirations span a full century of literature, music and films.

The Visitor was inspired by David Bowie's “Berlin period” in the 1970s. The three-track suite Lichtspiel (Light Show) combines to approximately 14 minutes. This album is different from earlier PSB albums, in that it does not contain the archival recordings they normally build their compositions around. The music is rich and engaging, and the guest vocalists on a few of the tracks are a nice touch. The album continued their success in the UK, peaking at #2 on the UK album charts.

In 2022, PSB once again performed a show for the BBC, this time for their Proms series at the Royal Albert Hall. They wrote an hour-long selection of music, and performed in conjunction with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and actor Michael Sheen (best known for Good Omens). The purpose of the program was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the BBC. This performance does use the archival recordings that PSB are known for, but the full symphony orchestra gives the music an even larger dimension.

The show was released as a live album called This New Noise in 2023. I consider it an essential part of their catalogue as it contains 100% new music. Stand out tracks include the title track, Broadcasting House and the 9-minute long The Microphone (The Fleet is Lit Up) which revisits and expands upon Lit Up from the first PSB album. This time, however, they juxtaposed George Bernard Shaw's eloquence with Thomas Woodrooffe's drunken rambles.

This brings us to the most recent PSB studio album to date, their fifth, titled The Last Flight released in 2024. The inspiration this time is Amelia Earhart's ill-fated 1937 attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the earth. The songs on the album contain clips of Earhart's own voice, returning to their use of archival recordings absent on Bright Magic. I have enjoyed Towards the Dawn and For the Fun of It. Electra refers to the model of plane she was flying at the time of her disappearance. The closing track, Howland is a hauntingly-beautiful track with recordings of Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan's final radio transmissions before the plane disappeared en route to Howland island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. An album of remixes of the tracks, called Night Flight was released in October 2025.

I must say that my trip through Public Service Broadcasting's catalogue has been quite enjoyable. Is it complex symphonic prog like classic Yes and Genesis? No. Is it intriguing, creative and unique? Yes! If you are looking for engaging, thought-provoking, well-composed music with a twist, I suggest giving PSB a listen!