SMARTLY turned out in tweed, corduroy and bow tie, J Willgoose Esq cuts a dapper figure far from the image of your typical rock star.
But while the bespectacled, softly-spoken Londoner could be mistaken for a librarian or geography teacher, the fiercely intelligent musician is the powerhouse behind one of the most exhilarating bands of our time.
Doyens of cinematic alternative rock and epic electronica, Public Service Broadcasting thrill with dynamic and convention-defying music in keeping with the mission statement of their debut album: Inform-Educate-Entertain.
Since appearing on the radar with the juddering electronica and soaring guitar of breakthrough tune Spitfire, they have taken listeners on audio journeys from the dark days of the London Blitz to the top of Everest, from space to the depths of the South Wales coal mines, and from the decks of the Titanic to Weimar Berlin.
With their new album they have again taken to the skies with a musical tribute to legendary aviator Amelia Earhart.
‘The Last Flight’ focuses on the final journey of America’s pioneering adventurer who, in 1922, aged just 25, flew higher than any woman before her, and was the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, setting multiple speed and distance records.
In 1937 she set out to circumnavigate the globe in her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra aircraft. After crossing the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, she left Papua New Guinea to fly to Howland Island in the Central Pacific but never made it. Her determination, passion and bravery, however, have secured her place in history and in the popular imagination.
“The more I read, the more I became fascinated by her,” says J who brings the expanded band to Aylesbury’s Waterside Theatre on Thursday, October 31, before swooping back next year for a show at Oxford’s New Theatre on March 20.
“She was an outstanding person,” he says. “Of all the people we’ve written about, I have the deepest respect and admiration for her.”
So how did it come about?
“We wanted to write about a woman as we felt it was about time,” he tells me.
“We have always included women on our albums – like Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space – but wanted to do something exclusively about a woman.”
He said Amelia Earhart was an obvious choice.
“Everyone could tell you about her aviation feats but what is just as fascinating is her personality – and that became a major draw rather than her flying experiences.
“She had great technical skills but was a dreamer.... and a lover of poetry and linguistics.”
The album is a departure from previous album Bright Magic – an artistic love letter to the German capital – with soaring rock reminiscent of their stellar celebration of cosmic-adventurers The Race for Space.
It evokes adventure, speed and freedom but also Earhart’s spirit and vulnerability.
And while previous outings are studded with samples of archive recordings, this – their fifth long player – features dialogue specially recorded by actors along with guest artists.
Guests include Carl Broemel from My Morning Jacket on pedal steel, Berlin voices Andreya Casablanca and EERA, This Is The Kit’s Kate Stables, and actor Kate Graham who reads Amelia’s words.
“The way we had to tackle the archives was totally different,” says J.
“There just wasn’t anything, so we had to recreate it. It was a big challenge as we hadn’t done that before.”
The album was released this month and has been accompanied by three singles, Electra – a soaring paean to Earhart’s aircraft; The South Atlantic– an ominous orchestral ode to her determination and passion; and The Fun Of It – on which Casablanca, who previously guested on 2021’s Bright Magic, states Earhart’s enduring philosophy of life: “I do it because I want to”.
And The Last Flight is already proving a crowd pleaser.
J says: “If we had done this record after The Race for Space it would’ve been predictable.
“But enough time and experience has gone under the bridge.
“It hangs together structurally and the actors providing vocals are really good. It is also the first to be done in our South London studio – which makes it special to us.”
And for a convention-defying band who refuse to sit still, rest on their laurels or fall into a rut, it represents a suitable change of pace after the cerebral artistic Germanic flight of fancy of Bright Magic.
J says: “This feels like our version of Radiohead’s In Rainbows – a solid rich sounding record. But obviously nowhere near as good!”
He goes on: “It’s nice to get it out there – to see the songs leave us and now belong to the people who listen to them.”
The band have a fiercely loyal fan base, for which J is grateful.
“It’s a two-way street,” he says.
“We try to do our best by them... and they have stuck by us!”
Public Service Broadcasting play The Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury on Thursday, October 31 and the New Theatre Oxford on March 20, 2025.
The Last Flight is out now
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