Editors have been interesting in a sort of "we are British people doing Interpol, who were New Yorkers doing British 80s music" way. Well, it seems like they have finally cut out the middle man and gotten back to their ethnic roots, and by that i mean that In This Light and On This Evening is a good old-fashioned synthpop record.
You don't get a lot of real synthpop anymore – it's all "electro acoustic" this and "dub influenced" that. Blah. I like it when people take a lot of keyboards and drum machines and try to write pop music. It doesn't have to have that thumpa-thumpa dancefloor beat, just give me a tune with hooks and interesting melodies that was made with soaring electronically-generated sounds.
Well, Editors have done just that, and i would like to thank them for it. This album has been in nigh-constant rotation at the PostLibyan Cave since i got it a few weeks ago, on the US release. Finally, i might add, as this was out in the UK for about three months before we saw it on this side of the pond. Well, i won’t hold that against them, because this is a wonderful record.
It starts with the darkly moody In This Light And On This Evening, which is all gothic keyboard tones and Tom Smith's deep voice. It moves along moodily, a gothic intro for what is to come.
On Bricks and Mortar a drum machine tinkles against a bass riff, while layers of keyboards dance overtop. This is a catchy, upbeat song which builds to a nice, heavily layered frenzy in the middle, with guitars see-sawing and burbling electronic noises to complement the synths.
Things get even dancier on Papillon, which features dominate synths and a thudding bass beat, while Smith sings the nonsensical, "It kicks like a sleep twitch". Not sure what all that means, but this tune plays like early Depeche Mode. Great stuff.
On You Don’t Know Love, Editors reference another strand of synth music. This song is less DM, more Mike + the Mechanics; less Euro-disco, more prog-rock. It even features a high-pitched guitar solo in the middle.
On The Big Exit, Smith tries his hand at singing in falsetto. And let's face it, you can't really make a synthpop record without at least some falsetto. In general though, this song moves along tensely until the chorus, where it gets gloriously messy. Multiple voices chant, drums thunder, and layers of synths compete with one another.
There is just one more tune i would like to comment on, and that is the disgustingly titled Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool. This moves at a seesawing pace, and gets nicely dense on the choruses. It's really catchy.
The US edition of this record features five bonus tracks on top of the nine tracks in 44 minutes that make up the UK edition, so we get more material for having to wait. Still, this is a great record, and any fan of synthpop will need to hear it.
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