It is one of those musical projects which shouldn’t really work, but most assuredly does – with bells on.

Take a sample of archive material – whether it be from the Blitz, the Apollo space missions or the conquest of Everest – build it into a soundscape of soaring electronica and searing rock and perform it against a backdrop of old black and white newsreel footage, public information films and clips harvested from the British Film Institute.

Endlessly creative and unashamedly bold, Public Service Broadcasting have forged their own genre – and it is utterly thrilling.

The title of their debut album Inform-Educate-Entertain, could also be their mission statement.

They took us through the Battle of Britain, Dunkirk and the bombing of London in The War Room, to the moon and back in The Race for Space and most recently through the glory days and demise of the coal mining industry in Every Valley – which last year reached number four in the album chart.

Now the tweed and corduroy-clad trio of J Willgoose Esq, Wrigglesworth and JF Abraham bring their concept-rich electronic rock to the New Theatre Oxford, opening a UK tour which promises to be one of the musical highlights of the year.

“We are still surprised by what has happened to us as a band,” says the bow-tie clad J, who is the outfit’s driving force, electronic guru, guitarist, sample collector and composer – performing initially as a solo act before recruiting Wrigglesworth on drums.

“When I began, I thought it was just something to do for a bit of fun,” he says. “Going back and listening to the earlier stuff, it is lighter in tone. But this has now become a part of us.”

He is speaking from the French city of Strasbourg. The band are gearing up for their UK tour with European support shows for indie-rock band Editors.

“Our music spreads in interesting ways, with different groups of people finding it,” says J. “There’s still so much interest in space and the War. With Every Valley people, particularly in south Wales, found it and responded to it.

“The conceptual layer gives people a hook; a foothold in the same way that bands with an incredible singer do.”

Singing is studiously avoided – by J at least. Other than one track on the last album, he avoids the microphone, choosing to address his audience at shows with an electronic voice generator.

Instead he roped in the likes of Manic Street Preacher James Dean Bradfield, Welsh singer Lisa Jên Brown, Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura, Derbyshire instrumental trio Haiku Salut, and the glorious Beaufort Male Choir.

Mostly though, the archive material speaks for itself.

Every Valley was recorded in the old miners institute in Ebbw Vale. The result is an energising descent into the history of the coal mining industry – with a heavy Welsh accent.

It takes us from the days of prosperity and progress through the decline and annihilation of the industry and the communities which depended on it. The result is engaging, emotional and bombastic in parts, and is spectacular live. And while undeniably specialist it proved a huge hit, jostling with Jay Z and Ed Sheeran to reach the top five.

“We were just looking for something to do which was not too predictable. We liked the idea of it being of niche interest. The story is fascinating and we couldn’t think of any conceptually appealing albums made about it. It was a challenge to do an album like that but it translates a story I find moving and important. It is political without being shouty.”

J admits it’s an unlikely success story. Mining, and the highly politically-influenced process of its destruction, is not exactly a fashionable topic. But then nor are paeans to the Edinburgh-London Night Mail train, the 1940s Dig for Victory campaign or the story of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – all of which have provided rich pickings.

One piece of history which has become more talked about is the Dunkirk evacuation – that heroic wartime rescue of thousands of British soldiers from the beaches of northern France in the face of Nazi German onslaught, the story of which was turned into an Oscar-winning film by Christopher Nolan and released last year.

J’s great-uncle George served and died at Dunkirk when just 26 years-old. The band’s song Waltz for George is a tribute to him and sees J playing along on George’s old banjolele.

“I was given the instrument a few years ago. It had his name on the case and was in a right old state,” J recalls. “But I got it playing and used it on the EP.

“I was the same age he was when he died, and it struck me how lucky my generation was not to have had to live through something as enormous as the Second World War, as he had.

“I wanted to write a song, but didn’t want to glamorise it. The result is sombre but a fitting dedication to his memory.”

So what next for PSB? Sticking with the theme of industrial heritage, they are exploring the story of history’s most notorious ship. “We are are going to do something about the Titanic,” he says. “We are going to Belfast and will perform at the shipyard where she was built. It seemed a great opportunity to do something unique.

“We didn’t want it to be another heavy disaster-focussed thing, but to present the full story and to capture that sense of pride and optimism.”

Of all their projects it promises to be the hardest in terms of tracking down recorded archive material.

“There was a lot of stuff from the survivors of the sinking but not about its construction as it was built before radio and recorded broadcasts – but it should work.”

And after that? “I know what we’d like to do,” says J. “But it might prove difficult to pull together, so we are keeping it under our hats.”

As for this show, J promises a powerful live experience; one which will take us from the bottom of the deepest pits to outer space.

“It’s a good show,” he says. “I rarely find myself talking things up, but looking at how much stuff we have and the level of care and quality of production makes it very different from anything else.

“The whole visual aspect is a very major part of it,” he goes on.

“It’s quite an overwhelming experience – especially given the emotional content of the last album.

"It certainly has been for me.”

  • Public Service Broadcasting play the New Theatre Oxford, next Thursday. Tickets from atgtickets.com