CD Review: Editors

The third studio album by the Editors, In This Light and on This Evening (which debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart) has been out in the UK since October 12th, but the album won’t be released in the states till January 19th.

Even before I heard the album though, I was already hearing a lot of mixed reviews. For their past two albums, Editors have been pretty consistent in their sound, and I’m sure that many fans (and this goes for any band, really) had high expectations that they would pick up where they left off. Maybe that’s why I was a little taken aback after my first listen.

Sure, lyrically and melodically, not much has changed. So what has? The band has put the guitars and drumsticks away and replaced them with synthesizers and a drum machine. The album carries sounds compared to many 80’s bands such as Joy Division, New Order, and Depeche Mode.

Seemingly blurring into one another, each of the nine songs take on bass synths, bubbling keyboard effects, and the gentle patter of programmed vintage drum machines. Kicking off with the ominous title track, it’s a slow burning beginning that explodes into pounding drums, fuzz bass and Morse code beeps to thrilling effect.

“Bricks and Mortar” is an epic six-minute track built on Leetch’s bass; he holds the album together, and there is a prominent bass line in nearly every track (“Walk The Fleet Road” is the exception). The track makes it clear that Editors are electronically enhanced, as a gentle drum machine and bubbling synth bassline set up the band’s carry throughout the song. A racing verse gives way to the best chorus the album has to offer. Pour salt water on the wound, Smith sings as the synths take over.

The first single “Papillon” certainly does not try to ease listeners into the band's new sound at all. Instead, it starts with the synthesizers up front and personal. The hammering melody that kicks off this song is instantly infectious and definitely kicks like a sleep twitch, as the lyrics state. It stands out as a ferocious slice of electropop with an urgency driving the song forward into its deserved position of lead single. It cannot be faulted musically, yet something seems a little off about it being on the album. In This Light And On This Evening is quite a dark record, and this slice of New Order-esque synth-pop seems oddly out of place. Nevertheless, if it can be said that this album has an anthem on it, this is surely it.
“You Don’t Know Love,” “The Big Exit,” and “The Boxer” move the album into a more sedate mid section, and into “Like Treasure” before the second single: “Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool.” The song is like a gothic Talking Heads covering some long-lost 80s pop song; the quirkiest song in the band’s oeuvre by quite some distance.

“Walk The Fleet Road” closes the album, featuring excellent vocals from Smith (which includes an uncharacteristically high-pitched chorus), reminding us that when Editors go for the softer approach, it nearly always pays off.

Who can lie? Not as engaging as The Back Room, nor as immediate as An End Has A Start, In This Light and on This Evening is at least a solid addition to Editors’ music. Yet I’m still a bit reluctant to believe that they had changed their sound to revolve so heavily around synthesizers. But while the new direction may take some getting used to, it’s slowly growing on me. With Tom Smith's bold and dominant baritone voice and the band’s tendency towards huge choruses, at the end of the day this is still an Editors album, no less enjoyable or interesting than their previous two - but certainly different.

Tracklisting:

01 In This Light And On This Evening

02 Bricks And Mortar

03 Papillon

04 You Don't Know Love

05 The Big Exit

06 The Boxer

07 Like Treasure

08 Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool

09 Walk The Fleet Road