Does this album need any more reviews? It seems that the critics have made up their minds - that perhaps a change was necessary, but that this wasn't the way to go - and the fans have too. Some are ditching Editors because they hate it, while those for whom the band can do no wrong love it. So one more review from someone how likes the band but makes every effort to review impartially and objectively might not make the world of difference, but may prove useful to those who are as yet undecided.
Still much is being made of the Joy Division thing which has certainly become Editors' albatross, with the Guardian sharply observing that they've shifted from 'Unknown Pleasures' to 'Closer' with the move to a synthesiser-driven rather than guitar-based sound.
On listening properly, it's easy enough to see where these people are coming from. For my part, I can't help but wonder if it's simply a case of the band joining the 80s revival party that's now in full swing. But it's not nearly as straightforward as all that. A low throb and dense multi-tracked vocal opens the eponymous opener before a doomy droning synth enters the mix. It's more Depeche Mode than Joy Division. A robust percussion clatters in, as does, simultaneously, a noodly guitary-sound and suddenly it's more Muse than Joy Division or Depeche Mode.
It's followed immediately by 'Bricks and Mortar,' a spaced-out Kraftwekian keyword line propelled by a trebly Roland TR606 snare sound. It is retro, but it's more than simply the sounds: the production is sparse and glacial, lending a strange sense of detachment and absence of humanity to the track, which runs at over six minutes.
'Papillion' is perhaps the most obvious single choice on the album, and also the track that stands out as perhaps being the one that's most guilty of being derivative of Joy Division and early New Order with its electro-disco beat and hooky synth lines. But in fairness, it's not actually a bad song, either as a single or in context of the album, as it picks up the tempo at just the right point.
There are tracks that I'm not entirely sure about, or if I ever will be. 'You Don't Know Love' is 80s to the core - think Go West or Mr Mister album track material - and you can almost picture Tom Smith delivering the lyrics in a vest or with his jacket sleeves rolled. Meanwhile, 'The Big Exit' is sparse and bleak and returns us to mid 80s Depeche Mode.
If I was being harsh and playing 'spot the reference point,' I might say that 'The Boxer' sounds like 'Small Town Boy' by Bronski Beat crossed with 'Love My Way' by the Psychedelic Furs. However, this would be to ignore the fact that it's a slow-burning number with an undercurrent of melancholy that's quite affecting.
'Like Treasure' boasts a chorus that's uplifting as the vocals and expansive synths soar through the chorus, and if I'm not mistaken, there's a gritty, stuttering guitar line way off in the background lending extra texture to the sound.
'Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool' certainly takes the band into new territory, being the most experimental and odd-sounding track they've released to date. This is also true of the deeply weird lyrics. Sure, it takes early Human League as its starting point (I'm thinking of tracks like 'Being Boiled'), but it's without doubt one of the album's standout tracks, too, not least of all because it's anything but safe or obvious.
Closer 'Walk the Fleet Road' once again revisits Depeche Mode territory, and is far from a strong rack, continuing Editors' tradition of allowing their albums to peter out and gently fade rather than surging to a grand climactic finish. So it's not all that exciting, but it's better than 'Well Worn Hand.'
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I have a feeling it will be one of those albums that will take some bedding in and acclimatising to. On its own merits, it's actually pretty good. It doesn't sound all that much like an Editors album, but they've already released two albums that do and do we need a new-wave inspired Oasis churning out the same tired cack every couple of years. Or another Snow Patrol or whatever? I saw we absolutely do not. I do, however, say that if you can get your hands on the special edition with a bonus disc, it's well worth doing so.
Returning to the form of their debut, the first run of which included an EP of tracks that didn't make the album (but some of which did surface as early B-sides) entitled 'Cuttings,' bonus disc 'Cuttings II' suggests that the band really did push themselves to try new things, both sonically and compositionally, in the writing and recording of 'In This Light and On This Evening.'
'This House is Full of Noise' is a real oddity, beginning as it does with some stuttering, rumbling electronica before exploding into distortion and noise at around the two and a half minute point. Surging, crackling noise tears from the overloading speakers and it's as though Muse have got wasted and hijacked the studio, before it suddenly stops and returns to an acoustic take on the opening section and then explodes again before finally fading out on a barely-there piano note.
'I Want a Forest' (a Cure reference?) is New Wave all the way, with a retro, toppy, reverb-heavy snare kicking away angrily through the sonic haze of flanged guitars and muddy synths.
The remaining tracks follow this theme and culminate in the grey, bass-heavy 'For the Money,' which utilises a spiky marching beat as its snaking backbone while it builds into something that's not a million miles from something from New Order's 'Movement,' only rather weirder.
Taken as a whole, this collection suggests that my cynical suggestion that the 80s revival is this year's Joy Division revival and that Editors are perhaps bandwagon jumpers was misguided. Ok, so the least commercial tracks were omitted from the album and gathered for form a bonus EP, but there's making a change in direction that might not please everyone and complete career suicide, and what record label is going to allow an established band to perform the latter, in all seriousness? It might not be a revolutionary - or even evolutionary - record in the overall scheme of things, but in context of Editors' career to date, it's both brave and interesting.
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