Search - Editors :: An End Has a Start

Every little piece of your life

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 07/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's something of a poke in the eye to Editors that when they debuted a few years back, they were mainly referred to as "that band that sounds a lot like Interpol/Joy Division."



And while their second album "End Has A Start" sticks mostly to the same sound, the Birmingham band does try to embellish their music with more epic stylings and stronger lyrics. It's not brilliant, but it has the dark, moody stirrings of potential genius in the future -- and in the present, it's just a stirring listen.



"Pull the blindfold down/So your eyes can't see/Now run as fast as you can/Through this field of trees," Tom Smith intones over a bed of ringing guitar and solid piano-drums combos. "I can't shake this feeling I've got/My dirty hands, have I been in the wars?... We've all been changed/From what we were/Our broken parts/Left smashed off the floor."



Then they kick into a dancier melody with the title track, a sort of dirty disco sound about "You came on your own/And that's how you'll leave." But it rings more of a single than of the overall album, which explores darker corners: dark rippling guitar pop, high-speed rockers, a gentle piano finale, thudding sinuous rock, and soaring epic pop of the type bands like Snow Patrol do.



"End Has A Start" is not really an album for someone seeking novelty and originality, but for music that's loaded down with influence from other bands, played with passion. It isn't as immediately endearing as their debut, but as it winds on darkly through the different songs, it becomes more interesting and likable -- even powerful in moments.



Ringing, cycling guitar takes center stage in most of these songs -- almost every song is awash in silvery expanses of this sound, sometimes reaching epic heights. There are some exceptions, like "Bones," where the Editors twine some driving, spare riffs instead. And Ed Lay's solid drums set down solid beats, with the occasional interlude of piano or ripply synth blips.



Smith has a lovely voice, no doubt about it -- deep, resonant and smooth. And the songs he sings are more mature, more complex in their wording, and more bittersweet in their themes. "In the end all you can hope for/Is the love you felt to equal the pain you've gone through... Bones, starved of flesh/Surround your aching heart/Full of love."



Editors still lean on their influences too much, but they are growing strong in other areas. I wouldn't say it has reached brilliance yet, but their music is slowly growing up toward it."