A change of approach unlocks a solid new offering from the indie veterans.
Ah, The Back Room. Wow, did we love that album. Played it to death, completely adored it. It encapsulated all the 2005 indie-vibes and completely owned it. ‘Munich’ is perfection. They remain a band ever since capable of throwing out a totally stunning, emotional, beautiful track or two on every subsequent album. Dark tinged, emotional indie that links to the grand traditions of Joy Division, Echo and The Bunneymen and shared a lot of DNA with American contemporaries Interpol. Surface, Echo and Sound is the band’s eighth album, the first since EBM in 2022. This one is a break from the approach of the last few albums and has more in common with Tom Smith’s recent solo-album where everything started from an acoustic guitar.
From those initial guitar sketches they worked the tracks through in a practice room together, like in their earliest days. The end result is a solid set of tracks. Are Editors capable of making a bad album? Probably not, they respect the process too much and always put the work in. Smith’s voice carried an emotional universe within every track from their earliest days. As he gets older it just gains more nuances.
The track that most leaps out at you is ‘Call It In.’ The one track that could definitely slot in on their previous best albums. The most instantly Editors. The other one we loved from a first listen has not been released as a single. ‘Happiness’ has a powerful undertow and some chills down the spine vocal shenanigans as it builds to a powerful climax.
‘The Rush’ is another classicly up-tempo Editors tune. ‘Seriously’ has a soaring sound that gets you tapping along. Of those initial acoustic sketches, ‘The Hills We Died Upon’ is one that has benefited from not moving far from that starting point.
There is a small instore record shop acoustic tour to support the album, ahead of a full tour next year. How can we not go to Truck Oxford to catch them on the 17th of November? A special event indeed.
Essential Tracks: ‘Call It In,’ ‘The Rush,’ ‘Happiness,’ and ‘Seriously.’
Tour dates – UK and Ireland 2027
- 28th Feb – Vicar St, Dublin – SOLD OUT
- 1st March – Ulster Hall, Belfast
- 2nd March – o2 Academy, Glasgow
- 4th March – o2 City Hall, Newcastle
- 5th March – o2 Apollo, Manchester – SOLD OUT
- 7th March – o2 Academy, Leeds
- 8th March – Rock City, Nottingham
- 9th March – Prospect Building, Bristol – SOLD OUT
- 11th March – o2 Academy Brixton, London
- 12th March – o2 Guildhall, Southampton
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