The main story of September was the release of EBM. However, there were a couple of other very important happenings.
On the 3rd of September, Nic Willes played his last show with the band...for now. I'm glad that he got to be part of the introductory party for some of the new songs, and I hope he gets the chance to be back onstage as an Editor in the future. Thanks, Nic.
The summer campaign officially ended in September, meaning that the next time Editors play live it will be with a new line up. Blanck Mass will make his live debut proper tonight in Valencia, that's not counting the mini-gig he did as part of the rehearsal event for some competition winners. More on that soon.
On the 20th, various competition winners arrived in the UK to spend the day with the band in Bristol. I couldn't possibly do it justice if I tried to describe it (I wasn't there), but Hannah was and you can check out her take on the day here.
Somebody on YouTube had asked me what I thought of the new record, so I listened to the album lots of times and gathered some thoughts to put out here at the blog. I
deliberately tried not to read any of the reviews for it because
I wanted these thoughts to be my own and not influenced by whatever common
shared, reiterated narrative that's following EBM's release through the media (and
I guarantee there's a narrative!). If it's that the record is dark then
I partially agree, but I can hear pop references in there too. Educate sounds a lot like Rush Hour by Jane Wiedlin, and Vibe reminds me of Domino Dancing by Pet Shop Boys. I've said before that the guitar intro to Karma Climb reminds me of Atomic by Blondie.
These reference points (if they even are) are not dark songs, they're pop songs. But then Editors have always been a
pop band that deliberately, and possibly self-consciously nudged their
music just out of that genre's spotlight.
I think that if you love the new album you owe a debt of gratitude to the pandemic, a concept that leaves an acidic taste in my mouth just from contemplating it. It sounds glib, I know, and I'm absolutely not raising a glass and toasting corona virus. I'm just acknowledging the role it played by acting like a stern, overbearing extra member of the group imposing a different kind of creativity on the band. All throughout the almost three years of enforced isolation and restrictions of freedom it caused. Editors' 7th album was formed at distance and from dislocation, from aborted plans and having to adapt to a new way of living.
If you've listened to any of the most recent interviews with the band, you'll already know how EBM got going. If not, here's a brief summary. Editors were due to play two nights at a Belgian festival pre-pandemic, with night one being a standard festival set. The second was to be on a different stage with a very loose invitation to do what they wanted in whatever way they saw fit. A plan was hatched to try and design an atmosphere similar to a rave, by taking old Editors material and reworking it to give it a more club-like aesthetic. After working on Violence, Blanck Mass was brought in again as a collaborator on the project. EBM was actually the name that they were going to perform under on night number 2, only becoming an album title later on.
Although the gig ultimately became another cancellation casualty, the
ideas being proposed at that time lit the spark that brought us here. Karma Climb was the first track written in a world experiencing mass closure, and from there the remaining album was put together remotely.
After repeated listens to EBM, I keep coming back to one word; evolution. As
an analogy for why that is, I'm shamelessly riffing on the "Climbing
Mount Improbable" proposition by Richard Dawkins, which he uses to
explain how that concept actually works.
It's 2003 and the band that produced the Snowfield Demos are standing at the base of a large, tall cliff. At the top of it is the EBM
album which is recorded and ready to go. To make single leap from where they were then to that pinnacle is going to be extremely difficult, very likely
impossible. They could try, but that version of Editors making EBM is a long shot at best.
However, on the other side of the cliff is a large slope
that extends for a total distance of 19 years, gradually making its way from the ground to
the summit. If they go that way it will take more time, and involve lots of specific yet
subtle changes as they advance. Some of these could be very risky and perhaps even painful, but it will ultimately result in the band
formation and sound that is EBM. That, to me anyway, is exactly what's happened. A single change to any of those individual choices made along the way during those 19 years would alter the experiences they had, and EBM wouldn't be made. The previous firing, hiring, instrument selection, producers used etc are all small but equal long-term contributors to this record's assembly. Every little piece of your life...
Each Editors album is like a diary entry made permanent in audio form. As
well as being its own journal of a very strange time in all of our shared history, EBM feels like a demonstration of all the
skills and techniques acquired through those 19 years of slow evolution. Most
of the tricks you hear have appeared already in one form or another in
the back catalogue of songs, but never this precise, expansive and
focused. Yet even here in 2022, echoes from the past keep turning up. As a for instance, take a listen to Picturesque
at about 17 seconds in. Those high-pitched vocal samples behind Tom's
falsetto are a pretty good tempo match for the pad sounds late into Bricks and Mortar. If you check out this video from Fabric in 2009 you'll hear it at about 40 minutes in, much clearer than the studio take.Then there's the intro to Kiss, which has a certain similarity to Camera from the Back Room etc etc.
A lot has been made of EBM's similarity to In This Light and on This Evening, and while its style shares some electronic DNA, I think the overall tone of each record is totally different. I found In This Light and on This Evening to be extremely claustrophobic in
places. It's a collection of songs that will forever exist as 9 individual dark nights
during October; cold, dark but exceptionally clear. That's what made it so attractive. That, and the risk taken in putting it out after establishing themselves so well as a predominantly guitar-based band. In that respect, it's totally approriate to compare EBM and ITLAOTE, because they both take chances. Editors have shown a adeptness at making an ally of change, and for making it work in their favour.
EBM reminds me of that moment before a sprint race where the athletes go through the "Ready, Set, Go" phases. "Ready" is all about getting settled, "Set" is the when poise and tension are at their instant peak but being held steady, before being released in an explosion of effort on "Go". When I listen to EBM, it sounds like a record that has been locked in the "Set" position for 2 years or more. It exudes an urgency to just explode into being. Even the rapid-fire way some of Tom's lyrics are delivered just amplifies that feeling, as if the music is a train that left the station and he's running just to keep pace with it. Whereas In This Light always came across to me as a slow, brooding record that quietly moved around in the shadows of the city, walking adjacently to follow you home without a word. You felt it, but it never reached out to connect. EBM connects.
Elliott said in an interview recently "Editors is a band with an identity crisis...", and I would cheerfully disagree with that statement.I think that it's precisely because of the solid nature of their identity that they are able to pursue their collective muse without bowing to commercial pressures, or to the whims of their fans. They're going to do what they do and let the chips fall where they may, such is the belief and confidence in their abilities. On that note, I don't recall Editors exuding this level of confidence at the start of an album campaign since An End Has a Start. They know they have something here, and I think the live shows will only prove that further.
One thing that's constant is the insatiable hunger in the fanbase for what plans are being made for our tomorrows. Once we have recordings of the new music being played live, thoughts will inevitably turn to the future of the band. Questions like what happens next, how album 8 will sound, will Ben stick around beyond the E7 campaign, will anyone else be leaving...
Who cares?
If you love the new album you owe a debt of gratitude to the pandemic, because it not only helped to shape EBM but it should also have taught you the fleeting fragility of everything. "Right now" is where we're at, and you have a chance to experience all of this as it's happening. Don't miss it.
Editors Instagram - September 2022
For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
