Much to our surprise the Voodoo Rooms Ballroom is absolutely hoachin’ by the time we get there – despite Django Django in the Liquid Room, Efterklang at the Usher Hall, and even a charity bash featuring local talent downstairs.
It just shows what a little chatter – and a nomination for Lamacq’s Rebel Playlist – can do, even though Public Service Broadcasting are the unlikeliest of buzz bands.
Drummer Wrigglesworth and multi-instrumentalist Willgoose sport a mixture of corduroy, bow ties and nice shirts, yet make the most ferocious noise when they get going. Recent EP The War Room was a mixture of banjos, light beats and samples, but the live drums ramp up the oomph factor and it’s telling that Willgoose uses a guitar in at least two thirds of the tracks rather than the stringed instrument so beloved of folkies and rednecks.
Only two EP songs – London Can Take It and the stunning Spitfire – are aired, both to rapturous applause from the packed house, and appreciation is shown in keeping with the old-fashioned attire and constant backdrop of old black and white movies and war films with a sampled “thank you very much…… Edinburgh” thrown in every so often.
The sheer volume of songs unfamiliar to those who’ve only heard The War Room suggests that another release can’t be far away, and new single Everest isn’t a massive reinvention – the only significant change is the use of coloured visuals for the first time in this ode to the world’s highest mountain.
A surprising evening on many levels, Public Service Broadcasting are hugely promising and if the rest of their tour is as busy as tonight, big things are afoot.
