Artist: Editors
Album: In This Light And On This Evening
Year: 2009
Grade: 4 pretzels
Longtime readers of Pretzel Logic will be well acquainted with my hatred for “Brindie rock,” which is my catch-all term for the droves of formulaic English alternative rock seeping across the Atlantic at a record pace. Every year since the Libertines showed up, it’s seemed like more and more quartets of young English men are picking up guitars and basses and playing the exact same type of music as their neighbors. Maybe they’ve got a gimmick (Maximo Park are Northern, the Wombats have an ironic song about irony, etc), but at the end of the day, the world feels fully saturated with angular guitars and witty lyrics yelped in chipper accents. For years, the band Editors have been my go-to target whenever I needed to point out how dull Brindie rock music tends to be. Since 2006, they’ve given the world two utterly forgettable albums of processed, post-punk-flavored blandness. So, naturally, out of all the bands in the world, I end up completely blindsided by the excellence of their new third album, In This Light And On This Evening.
There are very few albums that go from “good” to “great” when synths are added. Yet, they're exactly the difference maker on In This Light. The piercing guitar lines and crisp rhythms of the bands past have evolved into unyielding synth riffs and taut, electronic beats, with real some real bite and pulse to them. The opening title track declares from the start just how far Editors have come from their debut album. Keyboards grind, a few crushing piano chords set the mood and the whole thing chugs along on a Krautrock motorik beat. Two-thirds of the way through, the guitars finally wig out and the whole thing hits operatic levels of drama. I would usually mock frontman Tom Smith mercilessly for his absurdly generic name, but on this track, that facelessness suits his emotionless, almost robotic baritone so perfectly.
The other tracks on the album that really succeed follow a similar formula: add some dark, moody electronics, let the more traditional rock instruments create atmosphere, add a good beat and Smith’s soulless voice and voila! You’ve got a solid, listenable song from a group I wrote off long, long ago. “The Big Exit” is a wonder of tension and build-up, with its heatbeat-like pulse and Smith’s insistent chant of “they took what once was ours,” while “The Boxer” is a quirky, slightly nauseous ballad, driven by an atonal, buzzing guitar riff. It’s not that I’m surprised Editors wrote songs like these; I didn’t even think they had it in them.
In This Light does swing and miss occasionally, especially on the over-long “Bricks And Mortar”, which feels like the awkward, underwritten bridge between their old and new sounds. Then you’ve got “Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool”, which is practically pleading for a better name, despite actually being halfway decent. Smith’s lyrics also leave a bit to be desired, especially since he comes from the “why write lots of lyrics when you can repeat one catchy phrase eight times” school of songwriting. Topping it all off is the bizarre lead single “Papillon”, which sounds a bit like something Scott Walker might sing if someone slipped him ecstasy at a rave (why Scott was at a rave is another mystery). At times, I love the song; sometimes, I hate it with a passion. However, this is a better ratio than I previously reserved for Editors. I’m honestly amazed by the dramatic (and sudden) artistic growth this band has gone through in the two years since their last album. While In This Light isn’t perfect, it has more than enough solid, enjoyable songs to make me excited for Editors’ future.
There are very few albums that go from “good” to “great” when synths are added. Yet, they're exactly the difference maker on In This Light. The piercing guitar lines and crisp rhythms of the bands past have evolved into unyielding synth riffs and taut, electronic beats, with real some real bite and pulse to them. The opening title track declares from the start just how far Editors have come from their debut album. Keyboards grind, a few crushing piano chords set the mood and the whole thing chugs along on a Krautrock motorik beat. Two-thirds of the way through, the guitars finally wig out and the whole thing hits operatic levels of drama. I would usually mock frontman Tom Smith mercilessly for his absurdly generic name, but on this track, that facelessness suits his emotionless, almost robotic baritone so perfectly.
The other tracks on the album that really succeed follow a similar formula: add some dark, moody electronics, let the more traditional rock instruments create atmosphere, add a good beat and Smith’s soulless voice and voila! You’ve got a solid, listenable song from a group I wrote off long, long ago. “The Big Exit” is a wonder of tension and build-up, with its heatbeat-like pulse and Smith’s insistent chant of “they took what once was ours,” while “The Boxer” is a quirky, slightly nauseous ballad, driven by an atonal, buzzing guitar riff. It’s not that I’m surprised Editors wrote songs like these; I didn’t even think they had it in them.
In This Light does swing and miss occasionally, especially on the over-long “Bricks And Mortar”, which feels like the awkward, underwritten bridge between their old and new sounds. Then you’ve got “Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool”, which is practically pleading for a better name, despite actually being halfway decent. Smith’s lyrics also leave a bit to be desired, especially since he comes from the “why write lots of lyrics when you can repeat one catchy phrase eight times” school of songwriting. Topping it all off is the bizarre lead single “Papillon”, which sounds a bit like something Scott Walker might sing if someone slipped him ecstasy at a rave (why Scott was at a rave is another mystery). At times, I love the song; sometimes, I hate it with a passion. However, this is a better ratio than I previously reserved for Editors. I’m honestly amazed by the dramatic (and sudden) artistic growth this band has gone through in the two years since their last album. While In This Light isn’t perfect, it has more than enough solid, enjoyable songs to make me excited for Editors’ future.
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