Despite their success, there is a level of fame that the Birmingham-based band the Editors have never managed to reach, and deliberately so. If anything, their lead singer Tom Smith shuns fame – they are clearly a band who prefer to let their music do the talking.
It must speak to many people as the band have sold out tours, headlined festivals and had two platinum albums. But despite all of this, the Editors have just sailed through the last ten years without having much impact on the musical landscape. That sounds harsher than intended; they are a good band and difficult to dislike, but that is hardly exciting. Search for interesting anecdotes about the band’s years spent touring around the world, and there are none.
In many ways their lack of recognition compared to other, much less talented bands is unfair. After choosing to allow advertising agencies to use their music and avoiding anything deemed to be ‘celebrity’, the band are at risk of selling themselves short. They are often criticised for sounding too much like Interpol, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Joy Division. That’s not an insult as all those bands are great – it’s just that they were new and exciting a long time ago.
Their last album, In This Light and On This Evening, showed that the band had more to prove. The introduction of synthesisers in their set-up led to a new direction musically. Inevitable comparisons were drawn with Depeche Mode, as Mark ‘Flood’ Ellis, who over the years has worked with an extensive list of successful artists such as Nick Cave, New Order and the Killers, produced the album.
Their fourth album will be released shortly after the gig, on July 1, and so the concert at Tivoli will be an opportunity to hear some of their new tracks before everyone else. Although they’re not exactly new as the record has been ‘preleased’ since 2011, mainly due to guitarist Chris Urbanowicz’s departure in 2012. Although in a press release on the band’s website the split was said to be “amicable”’, there are rumours that Urbanowicz was not happy with the new musical direction the band was taking.
In May of this year, it was announced that the new album would be called The Weight of Your Love, and the first track to be released from the album, ‘A Ton of Love’, doesn’t sound too dissimilar to their other stuff. With two new members, Justin Lockey and Elliott Williams, the band now play as a five-piece. This album may actually be interesting to listen to, thanks to the addition of horns and Williams’ vocals. Two days after their gig at Tivoli, the band are playing the ‘Other Stage’ at Glastonbury. Their indie sound will be unmistakable, but there aren’t many songs that will get the crowd singing along. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain on either day as that would be bleak.
The Editors
Tivoli
Fri 22:00
Price included in admittance to Tivoli
