It’s been well over two years since the English band Editors had last released an album. Their latest album, Violence, slots into their discography comfortably while also challenging what an Editors album should sound like.
The first track, “Cold”, is lead in by a synth and Tom Smith’s vocals. Smith’s vocals on the track are clean almost to a fault. Smith sings on the pre-choruses “Stay with me and/Be a ghost tonight”. Perhaps wishing the person he’s serenading were a ghost of a former version of themselves.
“Darkness at the Door” shows Smith’s skill as a lyricist. The song starts with a claustrophobic account of Smith locking himself away from the threatening world that exists beyond his door. But in the second verse, Smith brightens his tone by singing about friends making it worth it. “That old friend’s a welcome sight/I like it when I see him/He covers up the world we live in”.
“Belong” starts eerily. There’s the tick of a clock, but distorted. Smith sings in metaphors in the front part of the song. The song lyrically starts as an apparent generically worded love song, but as Smith reveals more of the picture, the listener might wonder if something more sinister may be going on. The second verse concludes with an ominous “I wear your soul” before the chorus repeats “Never belong to anyone else but me”. The song ends with Smith repeating “A wilderness is in me”.
Editors’ latest effort is a curious album. It’s laced with familiar sound to Editors’ fans, but it also deviates from their norm just enough to not be pandering to their old fans.
Rating: 6.8/10
