“Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?” It’s been 87 years since American aviation pioneer Amelia Mary Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, had set out from Oakland, California as they were attempting to fly around the world. And then, they disappeared.
It has remained a mystery on what happened. Earhart has been often described as the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean, and then from Hawaii to North America. That and Public Service Broadcasting’s latest album, a conceptual story based on Earhart’s life entitle The Last Flight, brings the story to life with recordings, effects, and a message of hope to bring Earhart’s legacy in its true form.
From the mournful opener ‘I Was Always Dreaming’ gives us an insight of this flash-forward momentum of what had happened with Earhart. The humming bass sound, the effects of the waves crashing, stunning string arrangements, echoing voices of Amelia herself, her ghost still haunts the passages in which they’re about to unfold.
Once the engines are revved up on ‘Towards the Dawn’, it goes into full ignition mode with a soaring guitar arrangement, elements of the Arcade Fire, intense powder-kegs before heading back into the clouds once more with a rumbling drum section flying once more with unbelievable results. Once Andreya Casablanca enters the picture for ‘The Fun of It’ she visions the enjoyment of what Amelia’s succession is, to have fun and enjoy the ride.
It then switches gears as Kate Stables (This is the Kit) comes into the next frame with a McCartney-sque vibe that speaks of Nick Drake’s Pink Moon-era, followed by these symphonic textures with Amelia closes her eyes and imagines herself flying across the sky, heading towards ‘The South Atlantic’ before the band get into this powder-keg approach of a New Wave / Post-Punk revelation of Amelia’s twin-engine plane, the Lockheed Model 10 on ‘Electra’.
They follow along to the genre once more with its Who-like intro that speaks of ‘I Can’t Explain’ in its darker approaches throughout the ‘Monsoons’ which hits you like a battering ram before delving into the oceans, searching for the lost city. They head into the danger in which it reveals the danger and consequences that’s about to unfold in the last two tracks.
EERA (Anna Lena Bruland) comes into the frame, giving her mournful textures and singing farewell to the Aviator who took in massive challenges that were waiting for her on ‘A Different Kind of Love’. ‘Howland’ which is a coral island and located north of the equator in the central Pacific, sends us the perfect stringing swan-song of saying farewell to a woman who not only dared to take to the skies as a pilot, but others who will carry on her legacy in the years to come.
Once the piece is over, there’s a moment of silence. After it finishes for a minute, the sounds of the ocean and bird-like effects come in. Not only it’ll send shivers down your spine, but a pin dropping moment over what had happened to her and Noonan.
This is a perfect album the band have unleashed this year. And this time, they’re giving Amelia Earhart, the proper recognition she deserves.
