Tuesday, October 17, 2017

There is power in a union

After 2015's The Race For Space, Public Service Broadcasting wanted "to do something on a more human level". With this year's successor, Every Valley, a record ostensibly about the coal industry in south Wales but also with broader themes, they've certainly succeeded.

That much was evident on Friday night, when they kicked off their UK tour with a quite remarkable gig here in Cardiff - one during which they expressed their gratitude for all the support they received in creating the album and, in turn, a fiercely partisan crowd saluted their efforts to tell the sorry tale of the industry's collapse to a younger generation. For a band who seem fascinated by the past's visions of the future, they've discovered a talent for bringing people together in the present.

In my review for Buzz, I couldn't help but allude to Luke Turner's accusations of appropriation - though only to underline how the evening made them seem even more preposterous than they already were. I took issue with those accusations back in July, and it turns out that Craig Austin made all the same points a fortnight later in an article for the Wales Arts Review - albeit more convincingly and more eloquently.

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