Back Room, The - Editors > Reviews > "OMG! Look! It's the KiLLeRZ in dark"

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Catchy "darker" pop - rocksongs, got its moments,
Disadvantages:	mostly lame verses, the songs only go off in the chorus (if at all),

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

As a big Interpol-fan the first time I heard of Editors (they don't seem like they want to be counted to the "The-bands", though anyone should be over this hype now anyway) was quite early and before this album was released. Then and now after "The Back Room" has hit the stores and charts (at least in England) almost everyone is keen on mentioning my favourite band's name when talking about it. "Editors are the poor man's Interpol!", "Just like Interpol they get A-grades for their studies on Joy Devision" ect. Did this make me keen on buying this CD? Not really. Magazines come up with the dumbest comparisons and I was pretty sure they had not much with Interpol in common besides being both a bit gloomy maybe.
The more articles I read about them - and I read too many music magazines, really - the more I knew but I still hadn't heard any songs. I actually got a bit annoyed because how can I have a valid opinion on a band if I never even heard them . So when one of these magazines had a CD in it including "Camera" I should've been satisfied with finally knowing them. But I wasn't. I liked the song and it actually did give me a feeling not far from when I started loving Interpol's second album "Antics". I normally don't just go and buy an album because I like one song of it but this time, being in the Netherlands alone I wanted to treat myself and try it out.

After weeks of waiting I finally held my copy of "The Back Room" in my hands. The design is well done. The booklet consists only of some nice, a bit pseudo artsy photographs of each band member in black/white. This seems to be "cool" nowadays, look at other "indie-charters"' CDs like the Killers' (urgh). So in the end the booklet it's nice but useless. At least no pain in the eye. One of these things I'd put on a shelf if I had it on vinyl.

I put the CD in and from the first tune on I was disappointed. This was just general boring rock with so simple structures and horrid we-'re-trying-to-be-so-catchy-refrains. I cursed myself for buying it and already thought about going straight to ebay with it. The next day I gave it another chance and though still not really liking it I played it again and again. Sentences like "It's a bit like Paul Banks doing a U2-cover album, innit?" entered and left my brain and thus I should say I don't particularly like U2.

At some point the songs actually become songs and started to sound like more than just a big smash of some chords and different refrains in one thing. They started to work for me. For sure the songs still are no songs for eternity but they might still be good, eh?
I've been blabbing about them for too long now without telling what the actually sound like so hear I go:

Lights
It starts off with all the instruments at once and Tom singing about his problems to sleep since he always needs light, or about that. It may a bit gloomy and the deep voice singing "if fortune favours the brave I am as poor as they come" doesn't indicate a very happy song. Yet Lights is very much danceable and not much more than a rather simple pop song with a refrain that does work after lots of listens but isn't very exiting or new. It's rather fitting as a opener because it's short and starts the record off fast. "Dark disco" describes it rather well.
The lyrics are, like on most songs on this record, very repetitive. If you're not so fond of one line in their songs then listening to them will be a burden because it will be most likely repeated about ten times. Or if it's a short song maybe only six times like "I still love the light on, baby " here.

Munich
The first single that got a lot of attention from music press and music fans. They did release "All Sparks" before this but as far as I know this was before they released "The Back Room" on PIAS This said I can tell it's really difficult to find websites and information about this band even though they're so successful. Try and go look for "Editors" on google.
Anyway, Munich, despite being called after a hype city I'm not too fond of, is a good single. It's one of these songs that help you through your music year. In a few years you will hear it and think back of 2005. It's nothing spectacular but a catchy rocksong with a nice (attention: reference!) 80-ies-rock-guitar a la The Smiths and Joy Devision. There, you got me, I said it. To compare the whole song to them would be a bit inappropriate though. A nice catchy tune with a nice voice (a not very common one) and an actual audible bass wasn't what made Ian Curtis or Morrissey to the icons they now are. It needs a bit more then repeating "People are fragile things, you should know by now. Be careful what you put them through" for that but it does make a "summer indie hit". There you go.

Blood
Starts with a bouncing guitar and bass. Is catchy and a sing-along, if it wasn't for the bridge I wouldn't like the song. Integrated into the whole record it does work and will stay in your head but at some points you might find yourself thinking "Why the hell am I listening to such a predictable song that doesn't even really start off in the chorus?"

"If there's hope in your heart
It will flow to every part
If there's hope in your heart"
I mean, seriously, that's not written by what a call a great poet.

Fall
To say it in short: Fall is a decent song. Slower than all the others before on this record it drags on a bit. The drums are the basic instrument here, accompanied by guitar and bass lightly now and then. In the refrain Tom moans that he "wanted to see this fall" himself. Though I'd have thought he sings 'for' but the title suggests otherwise. A charming track, definitely one of the better ones on this album.

"These dark parts, we drink in
Somehow light up when I'm with you"

All Sparks
Another one of my favourites on this record is another faster song and probably a indie dance floor filler. If I was there it would be. Played loud it works the best. The guitar and bass playing apart from each other at the begin already makes it interesting. The song has a lot of energy but still doesn't break out from the verse/refrain/verse/refrain/bridge scheme the band has build themselves. But it doesn't have to, does it?
This song also provides the funniest line of this album. I can't keep a straight face singing "You burn like a bouncing cigarette" especially when you hear someone else chanting it in such a serious way.

Camera
The reason I bought this album is still nice. It's not as poppy as the other songs and has a great climax in the refrain, lead by beautiful drums. "I just close my eyes as you walk out"
This really is a very good song, with a lot of melancholic atmosphere and Tom's voice at it's best.

"If we run they'll look in the back room where we hide all of our secrets."

Fingers in the Factories
My favourite song of the record is at the same time the song that annoys me the most.
It has a lot of punk-ish energy and gets better and better in the refrain with a stomping rhythm: " And the fingers bleed in the factories". So you sit there waiting through the okay verses for the perfect refrain and when it comes it lasts less then 10 seconds until it falls back into the rhythm of the verse for no obvious reason as other than be "creative" and destroy the track. Thankfully at the end of the song it does get better again. What a shame they threw the potential of Fingers In The Factories away.

Bullets
Another single release of this 2005 album. I can see it played on any indie radiostation. It's a very catchy pop song with nice instruments. The guitar that plays rather the higher notes (as always when it comes to this band). One of the better songs, sounds like what the are. Makes me think "What a hipster band." Still it's a fun: "You don't need this disease, no, not right now."

Someone says
I always forget this song. It starts of rather ridiculously dumb. The guitar plays the same notes all the time and doesn't quite fit to the drums. The singer starts more saying than singing "Someone said they saw you. In the night and on your own. There's beauty in the lonely. You're the moonlight in this town." The chorus however is rather good. You can say most of the songs on this album have a Okay-Good-Okay-Good-bridge-good structure, the bridge varies in its value.

Open your Arms
This song takes the second song structure this band offers. The one that "Fall" and "Camera" take too. The refrain is rather the end of the verse and is more connected to it. It sounds more like one song then "Um, okay we have this refrain now so what are we going to put around it." It's not perfect but it works when you're driving alone in the night on your bike.

Distance
A slow song. They just shouldn't have put it on there. It is okay to listen to when you listen to the whole album but it's rather lame and not really good. It's not horribly bad either but than I could as well go and buy "How to dismantle an atomic bomb". (No, this song does not sound like U2. It doesn't have a chorus that tries so desperately like we've seen it come from Bono's gang lately/always.)

So all in all is this record worth the money?
If you have enough of it, yes.
If you secretly enjoy the Killers but like to dress in black, yes.
If you're looking for some fun, yes.
If your looking for an album with brilliant songs, innovative lyrics and mind-blowing song structures, no, go somewhere else.
Editors are trying to sound more cryptic than they are and look cooler and darker than they sound like. Their first album The Back Room shows that this band from Birmingham actually has some potential but doesn't fulfil it. They can be a lot of fun if played loud but everyone saying "Oh, the new Smiths!" should burn in hell.