Editors - An End Has A Start

June 26th, 2007 by JayJay

Editors

To release one of the most anticipated and undoubtedly interesting sophomore albums of 2007 is a hard thing to do right. Arctic Monkeys passed with honors, Bloc Party and Maxïmo Park certainly did well, but what about Editors?

The first seconds of Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors immediately bring us back to 2005. The voice. The howling guitars. The stomping drums. But most of all: the singles. That’s what The Back Room brought us: Blood, Munich, All Sparks; all huge walls of sound collapsing on top of us, all massive alternative rock hits.

There’s more of that on An End Has A Start. The title track (second single?) will smash festivals throughout this summer, and Escape The Nest and The Racing Rats have the potential to do so. In comparison to The Back Room, the lyrics are darker, the pathos is, again, overwhelming, there’s more orchestral parts, there’s choirs… In short: Editors are bigger than ever.

But the other tracks feel like filler, they’re “just” more of the same. There’s nothing wrong with making a “container” album full of potential singles, like Franz Ferdinand’s You Could Have It So Much Better, for example, but now the thin line between acting and overacting is crossed. Tom Smith starts to sound over-emotional, the drama feels over the top, the voice gets a little annoying and suddenly 45 minutes seem a bit long for only 10 songs.

So please, take out the sledgehammers at the festivals this summer, and combine both albums into one thumping set leaving us all shattered to pieces. Because when Editors hit the right notes, no one resists.


The Saddest Thing I’ve Ever Seen.

Sample: Editors - An End Has A Start
Bonus: Editors - Feel Good Inc. (Gorillaz cover)