From the leaders of the post-punk and brit-rock genres, Editors turned into a world-famous band with their legendary album "The Back Room" released in the early 2000s.
The band members met while studying music technology at Staffordshire University. Initially, their group was named Pilot, but when they realized that there was another group called Pilot, which was founded in the seventies, they first changed their name to The Pride, and then took the name Snowfield. In 2004, they signed an agreement with the record label Kitchenware and took the name Editors. Let's open a little parenthesis and remind you that the members of the Pilot group in the seventies were in the Alan Parsons Project at various times and the group has a very beautiful piece called Magic.
When we look at the current line-up of the band, we see that it consists of Tom Smith on vocals, Justin Lockey on guitar, Russell Leetch on bass guitar, Ed Lay on drums, Elliott Williams, and Benjamin John Power on keyboards and synthesizers. The band's debut album, The Back Room, was released in 2005. “All Sparks”, my favorite track in this album, deserves to stand out with both its normal and acoustic versions.
The band's second album, An End Has A Start, was released in 2007. “The Weight Of The World” in this album is one of my favorite Editors' tracks. Although the piece is melancholic, it can make you dance despite this melancholy with its oriental melody. Similar to the name of the song, maybe the weight of the world is on you, and you are in trouble, but that melody says to you, come live your sadness by dancing. “The Racing Rats”, on the other hand, is a lively track, energizing the listener like a powerhouse.
In 2009, the band is releasing their third album, In This Light And On This Evening. We see that the band has changed their style a bit in this album. The guitar was largely replaced by the synthesizer and it became an album with a synth-pop weight. But this style change did not prevent the Editors from doing good works again and a wonderful piece like “Papillon” emerged. "You Don't Know Love" and "The Boxer" are other highlights for me.
The group's next album, The Weight Of Your Love, was released in 2013. This album is also the first album released after guitarist Chris Urbanowicz left the band due to musical differences. Newcomers to the band are guitarist Justin Lockey and keyboardist Elliot Williams. Editors are leaving the electronic sound of the previous album and returning to rock. "Sugar" is one of the best tracks of this album, which meets the sugar needs of our souls, although it causes different emotions depending on the place where our body takes sugar from carbohydrates. “The Phone book”, on the other hand, is a beautiful song featuring Tom Smith's vocals.
The band's fifth album, In Dream, was released in 2015. The band produced this album themselves. In terms of style, there is a return to the third album, In This Light And On This Evening. I think it lags behind that album. The piece I will highlight is the opening song “No Harm”. Rachel Goswell, whom we know from Slowdive, accompanied the vocals in four songs of the album.
They released their last album, EBM, in September 2022, after releasing their sixth album, Violence, which I couldn't warm up too much, in 2018. The letters that make up the name of the album consist of the E of Editors, the name of the group, and the letters B and M of Blanck Mass (Benjamin John Power), the last member of the group. It also refers to a musical genre, electronic body music. With this album, I think the band has moved to the dark side. It is possible to hear genres such as industrial and synth wave in this album. The album moves like a high-speed train from start to finish. Pieces such as “Heart Attack”, “Picturesque”, and “Strange Intimacy” stand out.