Public Service Broadcasting’s new album Every Valley is billed as “a concept piece about the rise and fall of the South Wales coal industry.” But wait! Before you close the tab, consider two things: (1) This story is presented in the context of invigorating, uplifting post-rock that reminds me of Múm and You Forgot It In People-era Broken Social Scene, and (2) it’s a story with some serious relevance to today’s American situation, “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,” explains the band’s J Willgoose Esq. Over email, he offered further context:

It was never far from my mind that, while writing an album about the decline of one particular industry in one particular area of the UK, the subsequent record may be so specific as to be almost irrelevant to all but those who have a direct stake in the story. Whenever I started worrying too much about that, though, I’d come back to songs like this one, and its message of the political awakening of a generation of women who seemed to realise, suddenly, the power and the potential that they had. It’s the most positive and uplifting song on the album, for me — a song of gender barriers being broken down, of a group of people finding their voice, of the power of protest and its importance in a democratic society. Given what we’ve seen on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years, I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be making such a strong case in defense of those ideas.

Today we hear the Haiku Salut collab “They Gave Me A Lamp,” which sounds much brighter and livelier than a coal mine — bright as daylight, actually, and lively as a festival. Listen below.

Tracklist:

01 “Every Valley”
02 “The Pit”
03 “People Will Always Need Coal”
04 “Progress” (Feat. Tracyanne Campbell)
05 “Go To The Road”
06 “All Out”
07 “Turn No More” (Feat. James Dean Bradfield)
08 “They Gave Me A Lamp” (Feat. Haiku Salut)
09 “You + Me” (Feat. Lisa Jên Brown)
10 “Mother Of The Village”
11 “Take Me Home”

Tour dates:

09/12 Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
09/13 New York, NY @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
09/15 Boston, MA @ Sonia’s
09/16 Montreal, QC @ Belmont (Pop Montreal Festival)
09/17 Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
09/20 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
09/21 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
09/22 Seattle, WA @ Columbia City Theatre
09/24 San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Music Hall
09/26 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
09/28 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour

Every Valley is out 7/7 on Play It Again Sam. Pre-order it here.