Appearing on stage at Cardiff University’s Great Hall dressed like 1950s geography teachers, their beige suits and ties undermining just how hip they really are, Public Service Broadcasting proclaim their music credentials emphatically from the start. A blend of electronica and alternative rock, PSB are a jambalaya of sounds and textures, with numerous flavours coming through. Arguably, there’s Kraftwerk, U2, Moby and even a little Nirvana in there: cerebral but imminent, serious yet often playful.
But before all this, it’s tour support Halo Maud’s opportunity to further lay the carpet to their musical future. Floating like a feather in a raucous sci-fi-sounding world, Maud Nadal’s mesmerising stage presence is immediately obvious. Even when the music’s less heavenly, Nadal’s angelic voice is an ironic counterpart to the discordance, breaking through the scrape of guitars, pounding drums and bass as she positions herself somewhere between Björk and Kate Bush, the radiant bloom of her voice pushing up through the dark, dense soil of the heavier tones.
Following on and announcing themselves via audio sample, it’s Public Service Broadcasting’s turn to shine. And with founding member and guitarist J. Willgoose Esq. being a self-confessed fan of U2’s Achtung Baby, it’s easy to see where the occasional sparks of that creative torch flicker and flash: as the baton’s passed from one generation to another in tonight’s live performance, PSB’s visuals and audio samples recall U2’s iconic early 90s Zoo TV tour.
Despite a lack of vocals, the music – along with everything else – does all the talking: creating powerful if ambivalent emotions, simultaneously uplifting, wistful and delivered with undeniable force. Drummer Wigglesworth hides behind a comical moniker like his bandmate but drives the majority of songs forward into a synth-laden future, in step with bassist JF Abraham, theirs the wall of sound on which everything else hangs.
The music’s thumping and inspiring, but arguably not the force it would be without the visual spectacle that accompanies it. Cue Mr B, the fourth member, responsible for the band’s set design and visuals. Tonight’s set, is predicated on the theme of their latest offering, 2024’s Last Flight – like its predecessors, it’s a concept album, this time based on pioneering female pilot Amelia Earhart.
The backdrop is that of a large, old-school flight instrument panel, the various dials doubling-up as various-sized screens showing old clips accompanied by snippets of audio from the aviator herself, as well as news broadcasts from the south Wales miners’ strikes and that of the American and Soviet space race when performing tracks from their albums Every Valley and The Race For Space.
As regards audience participation, the crowd are left to wonder if the band are contemplatives. Notwithstanding, there’s more than enough going on, not to mention the brass trio venturing on stage at various points throughout as well as that of their musical guest and occasional collaborator, Eera, whose tender vocals occasionally take the show in slightly different directions on songs like Blue Heaven (originally featuring Andreya Casablanca) and A Different Kind Of Love. Overall, a phenomenal performance, one likely to create new fans of anyone who switches on and tunes in.
Public Service Broadcasting + Halo Maud, Great Hall, Cardiff University Students Union, Mon 28 Oct
words OLIVER R. MOORE-HOWELLS photos CHLOE JACKSON-NOTT
