Public Body is a British band from Brighton, UK, which has
probably started at some time in 2018.
The four civil servants are accustomed to musical tasks and have been
spotted behind the desks of various indie / rock / jazz bands over the
past years (Skinny Lister,
various solo projects,
Ebi Soda,
Birdskulls,
The New Tusk,
Broadbay) and Public Body seems to be by far the closest office to the
punk (or at least post-punk) department they have ever been
assigned.
And that's probably the reason why I'm gonna blather a bit about them today.
Digitally released on
Permanent Creeps
and physically (tape) released on
Hanger Records in April 2019, Public Body's debut EP is a refreshing shower of joyful and
upbeat post-punkish art rock. Heirs of the late 70s arty New York scene (Talking Heads,
Television etc...) and their brit (depressed) counter parts from a
few years later (Wire for some parts, etc...) I would put the
Brighton based band between clean sounded modern post-punkish
bands like
Bench Press,
Stuck
or
Lithics... and more indie art rock bands like
Parquet Courts,
Omni or
Yard Act.
So yes we're talking about nice, civilized, polite and educated music for
once (a little breath of fresh air in an ocean of apocalyptic darkness, to
put it without any excessive melodrama).
The band delivers a high pace kind of music, which sharp and jerky
guitars keep a certain level of tension that, paradoxically, never becomes
unhealthy or anxiety-provoking, but, on the contrary, keeps the atmosphere
mostly
cordial and rather pleasant. The singer nevertheless applies himself to
look detached and a little cold (especially on
Office Environment and Hard Concentrate which drip with
boredom, sounding like a tribute to Lou Reed's early years) but in the end what
really sticks to the brain is an overall feeling of upbeat energy.
In a nutshell it's a pretty enjoyable EP.
After that, mostly in 2020, Public Body released a few digital-only singles.
Presenteeism is a catchy upbeat post-punk hit which takes us
back to the late 70s, in front of the telly, when our imaginary alter egos
were stuck watching the colourful Top Of The Pops appearances of the first "new-wave"
bands, as they were all called at the time.
Once again Public Body manage to take the "joyful" parts of the
post punk patterns and include them in something I struggle to define but lead us exactly where we're supposed to be right here and
now, a "sound of today" if I may say...
A great track!
Naughty On My Bike
keeps the same idea with a more art rock approach. But it's also a stand
"against" the ridiculous increase of the price of public transport (if
you've ever been to London you know exactly what I'm talking about...) as
Theo, the guitarist, explains:
“It’s a song dedicated to the humble bicycle. Naughty On My Bike openly
criticises the public transport system as being over priced and
sluggish. Walking, being the green option, is slower still. In cycling
we find balance between speed and convenience.”
Velorution!
Public Body does not reject its Krautrock influences and
even pays tribute to Kraftwerk with the cover of
Pocket Calculator. A cover that I find pretty cool (and it's
definitely a compliment from a guy like me who finds Krautrock dull
as dirt).
But let's get to the point, which happens to be their latest EP, the Ask Me Later/Table Manners 7" released on the French label Six Tonnes De Chair earlier this month.
Ask Me Later: At first listen one is struck by the healthy,
positive and almost bouncy energy radiated by the four guys from Brighton.
The rhythm is sustained, but not so much more than in the previous tracks,
above all the singer has decided to clearly position himself in a
vocal approach that is less post-punk, more playful, a playfulness strongly supported by the "colourful" synth layers that are much more present than in the previous tracks (it could be expected after the Kraftwerk cover).
Honestly, in my opinion, it sounds a bit too much like an attempt to give
birth to a nice pop-art rock hit and I find it hard to appreciate so much
sympathetic musical benevolence in a single song (probably because I'm not
used to that kind of stuff). The band's approach seems closer to describing the life of a young
working man "undergoing" the modern life of a young English hipster and
the impression I get from the song is most probably unfair (but as I don't
understand all the lyrics, that's how I, and probably most non-native English speakers, feel about it).
Table Manners is slower, calmer, closer to what the band was
delivering in their first EP. Less energy then, but more depth ? It's a
relaxing, and quite nice track to be honest, that helps digesting the
"excessive" enthusiasm of the first track.
I'm still not really convinced by the synth layers though (never been)
and the overall vibe leans toward something I can only enjoy at very small
dose, I've been fed with hardcore punk for too long...
In a nutshell: to me Public Body is, and will remain, a
sympathetic breath of fresh air in the thrill of a cyclone, but I'm
definitely more seduced by the post-punk side of their first releases than
the bit-too-cheerful arty side of their last EP (tastes and colours you
know). Which is not at all a good reason to bypass this band!
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