Editors

The Back Room

[4/5] On the surface, Editors are the U.K.’s answer to Interpol, a quartet fond of mingling graven vocals with guitar tones that crib equally from Joy Division and early U2. But where NYC’s gloomiest rock band often seem weighed down by their own miserable aura, Editors sound brightest in the depths of their blackened pop gems. The Back Room is full of lyrics befitting the gloomiest of overcast days, even more so when vocalist Tom Smith emotes them over his bandmates’ crisp hooks in a rumbling, dead-serious baritone. And while the album as a whole is indebted to an earlier decade, ’80s-retro fans will especially get into the grim, swirling “Munich” and “All Sparks,” both of which bring to mind early Echo & The Bunnymen.
(THE FADER LABEL/KITCHENWARE) Annie Zaleski