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Editors 'An End Has A Start'
Editors always had the upper hand. Standing apart from any number of Paul Epworth-produced bands and their flavour-of-the-month aesthetic, the Brummie quartet was as far removed from angular chic as the moon is from the Earth.
Of course, their panoramic sound owed as much to the past as the spiky brigade – the fingerprints of Joy Division and The Chameleons instead of Gang of Four were dabbed all over 'The Back Room' – but Editors offered far more humanity and optimism than was available elsewhere.
And yet, as with their contemporaries, there remains the question of how to follow up such a distinctive opening salvo. Others have tried and failed and the pressure to repeat the success of their debut both commercially and stylistically without covering the same old ground is bone crushing.
With 'An End Has A Start', Editors have built upon their trademark reverberations into something altogether more expansive. Thanks in part to the knob-twiddling skills of one-time Compulsion guitarist and dance producer Jacknife Lee, Editors have increased their sonic arsenal several times over but ultimate credit rests with the band’s songwriting and performance skills as they construct a world of shadows and tall trees, hopes, fears and the pain of existence; a bit like real life, really.
Ed Lay’s mountainous drum rolls don’t so much usher in 'Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors' as make a grand announcement and Chris Urbanowicz’s soaring guitar squeals, coupled with Tom Smith’s sonorous voice and Russell Leetch’s bowel-rumbing bass, lend weight to the feeling that Editors are about to play on a wider stage than they – or indeed, we – might have ever imagined.
It gets better with each listen; the chimes created by Urbanowicz’s dextrous touches on 'Bones' and the title track are a joyous fusion of technical delivery and a harnessing of emotions. Indeed, deep feelings loom large on much of what’s on offer here. 'Spiders' becomes a near relative of 'The Back Room’s' 'Open Your Arms' as Smith intones, “Hold out your hand/I will carry you”.
We’re no longer dealing with general sentiments here but something specific, dear and special.
The politics of love are played out to full effect. The doubts of 'Push Your Head Towards The Air' (“If I lay face down on the ground/Would you walk all over me?”) are seemingly answered during the fragile beauty of 'Well Worn Hand' as Smith admits, “I don’t want to go out on my own anymore/I can’t face the night like I used to before.”
Honest, heartfelt and wrapped in wonderfully ethereal sounds, Editors start has come to an end; no longer contenders, they are major players.
Editors ‘An End Has A Start’ (Kitchenware) Released June 25th 2007
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