Public Service Broadcasting - White Star Liner

Public Service Broadcasting
White Star Liner
2018
Spotify

I don't think I've ever listened to a Public Service Broadcasting record that did not give me chills. The opening of White Star Liner features a clearly elderly man recounting his father taking him to the shipyards in Belfast to see the amazing new ship He was helping to build. The ship was the Titanic, and White Star Line tries to tell the fateful story of the Titanic's maiden and final voyage in four parts. They take you from the optimism and hope of the construction of the ship to it's first circle around the shipyard. Thing goes darker from there as the next two tracks portray the manic confusion in the first few moments of the ships initially beginning to sink to finally summing it all up with "The Deep". The album is in a word" quick. Typically with PSB you dive into a topic, see it from all angles and hear commentary from across the board. The Race for Space did not just feature British commentary, it sought o bring light to the human experience regardless of where you came from. Hearing human history told through song this way is fascinating, inspiring and filled with wonderment. There a moments like that on this EP, but far fewer than you would expect from PSB. They tend to take a very, very brief glance at the story of the Titanic here, and in doing so seem to fail a touch in honoring the people who have passed.

The songs are all a bit too short and a bit to thin on information and don't give you that warm amazing hope for humanity. The albums closer, with the somewhat uninspired name "The Deep" evokes the idea of depth and weight, but not much else. There is a small speech at the end, which sounds like it is from a dedication in honor of the victims, but doesn't tell the tale. PSB allow you to fill in the gaps a hell of a lot more on this record and it suffers for it. The final two songs don't take you on the journey, nor do they really make you feel any particular way about them, they just sort of exist. The first two tracks are inspiring and vivid, you can see the Titanic looming in the distance as the young boy approaches to the point the ship takes up his entire view. You are there with him, but in the final moments the album doesn't feel transportative at all. For me this album feels rushed, like the Cliff's Notes to the story of the Titanic rather than the in depth look I am used to from PSB. Hell they dug into a coal mine for a full album, but one of the most intense stories in history barely gets four tracks. It doesn't feel like PSB really found the meat of this topic, and the album feels like it misses that mark as well.

5.9 out of 10