editors - the back room
this one dropped out of nowhere for me. having not listened to radio in ages i had seen the adverts and read the various quoted taglines, but till now i had yet to hear any of the music.
therefore, to summarise : wow.
after a weekend of hammering this excellent debut album, this has shot to the top of my current playlist. released on the recently relaunched kitchenware label, i was already fascinated, as the label was always a mark of something interesting during the 80's, from the pseudo northern soul of the kane gang, the manic pop excess of the fatima mansions or the supreme studio creations of prefab sprout, via the big guitars of hurrah! the label became one i checked out on a regular basis.
the black and white grainy photographs of the band and the cover shot image give a lot away. this is a new spin on the dark romantic gothic guitar music of the 80's, instead of name checking gang of four these four lads from Birmingham revisit the classic stylings of echo and the bunneymen, psychedelic furs and u2 while obviously having an eye on the modern layered grandeur of doves ('open your arms' is editors 'the cedar tree' - 5 minutes of supreme proportions). in fact, tom smith's vocals tread precariously close to those of ian mac's at times, that i await the announcement 'of the killing fields' in several places throughout the album. the songs are all of the sort that head straight for the emotions of lost dreams, passions, subsequent rejections and heartfelt angst. after all, when lyrics such as 'beauty in the lonely' are projected within these sonic surroundings you know where we are. a soundtrack for the heartbroken and lonely this may become, but there is a lot more besides bedsits and depression on offer.
despite this sounding like a negative, it's not. such intensity and depth is actually refreshing after the recent frivolity of the recent garage rock revival, the glut of post punk funkateers, and the shiny pop-synthetics. of the 11 songs on offer - there isn't a single dud, on what could easily become one of my favourite albums of the year.
very special stuff