There’s a new album on the way from Public Service Broadcasting, following their 2015 The Race for Space, themed around the American and Soviet space race. The duo’s new album, Every Valley, is centred and informed by the history of the mining industry in South Wales. With a specific industry and time at its core, the album is as relevant today. The band’s J. Willgoose, Esq hopes it “is applicable to industries all over the western world and possibly beyond, in the way that the Industrial Revolution generated these communities that were so dependent on one particular industry, and what happens to that community when you remove that industry from it, and where that leaves us now”.’
Ahead of the album’s release on July 7th through Play It Again Sam, Public Service Broadcasting have shared a new single from it called ‘They Gave Me A Lamp’. Inspired by women’s support groups active during the South Wales mining strike in 84/85, the track features longtime favourite trio Haiku Salut. J. Willgoose, Esq. had this to say about it:
“When I was doing the research for this album, one of the stories that leapt out at me most obviously was of the role of women’s support groups in the strike. It seemed like a genuine political awakening for a whole generation of women, who suddenly came to realize both their potential and the power they had to shape the society they were part of; I really wanted to try to do their movement justice. Getting Haiku Salut on board, as well as samples of women talking about their role in the strike, was another key factor for me in putting this song together”.
Listen to ‘They Gave Me A Lamp’ below.