WE mentioned two weeks ago that we were very excited for the release of The Last Flight by Public Service Broadcasting, arguably one of the world’s more unique and interesting music acts. We were NOT disappointed.

Whether it was their 2013 smorgasbord of history in the form of debut Inform-Educate-Entertain, the successor ‘The Space Race’ exploring the 1960’s race to the moon from both the perspectives of the Americans and the Soviets or their mostly instrumental ode to pre-Nazi Berlin, it would be highly difficult for anyone to say that PSB were repetitive or were not distinctive.

This album sees them go back to the 1930s, and here is that album in their words: “The Last Flight is our version of the story of Amelia Earhart's final, ill-fated journey in 1937. Having successfully navigated over 20,000 miles and five continents on her round-the-world trip, her aircraft, the Electra, vanished without trace near Howland Island. Her whereabouts, and those of her navigator, Fred Noonan, remain a lingering mystery to this day.

“Rather than focus exclusively on the flight itself, the record is as much an examination of Earhart's remarkable character. She was an extremely rare blend of grace, composure, technical aptitude and a fortitude that the rest of us mere mortals can barely dream of, all enveloped by the soul of a poet.

“She was possessed of a seemingly unquenchable thirst for life - in her words, 'to find beauty in living... to know the answer to why I’m alive... and feel its excitement every moment'. That thirst for the abundance of life, the sheer joy and privilege of living, long outlasts her disappearance and death. It should serve as an inspiration, almost an instruction, to the rest of us; this record is our attempt to translate that inspiration into music.”

It does not fail to deliver on that, in short, this album is genuinely one of the best albums released this year, certainly far better than the widely marketed, far bigger budget ‘Moon Music’ by Coldplay, which is not a thousandth on this genuine wonder.

With archive recordings of the aforementioned Ms Earhart not widely available, the group opted to create recordings based on things she said and wrote, also seeking to capture the character of the female pioneer.

Beginning with I Was Always Dreaming, it near-sequentially tells the tale of her flights, successes and failures, prior to the devastating final track, the eight-minute long ‘Howland’ which portrays the final moments of the final journey as disaster struck during her bid to fly around the world.

There honestly isn’t a ‘duff track’ on this album, and a particular favourite is the penultimate track ‘A Different Kind of Love’, with guest vocals from the genuinely outstanding EERA. It opens and closes with a ‘conversation’ between Earhart and her husband, George P Putnam, taking place prior to the last flight with vocals in between from EERA.

Even on its own, it's such a good track from a truly outstanding album.