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Feb 12, 2010 Editors By Laura Studarus

For their third studio album In This Light and On This Evening, Britain’s Editors have swapped guitars for synths and pessimism for nihilism. However, in their attempts to procure an oppressively dark ambience, they have bypassed heroes Depeche Mode and New Order, landing straight in standard-issue mall-Goth territory—a place with little thematic variance. Rather than illuminating pressing social and personal concerns, we get songs comfortably in the wheelhouse of most dime-store philosophers—there is no God, the CIA is out to get you, and, wait, is that a half-price sale on eyeliner? On “Like Treasure” leadman Tom Smith sings about living out “second-hand clichés”—an affliction that takes the band a mere nine tracks to assure you they have firsthand experience.

This would be enough to detour even the most ardent of Bela Lugosi devotees if it weren’t for one very big “but.” Editors have fallen in lust with their Moogs and a thematic groove best reserved for second-string Goths—but, while attempting to shed their guitar-driven sound, they’ve managed to retain their songwriting chops—chops that should lay to rest (in peace) any claims that they’re little more than a lesser Interpol.

Flaunting a knack for a good hook, In This Light and On This Evening begs for sing-alongs, particularly while attempting an Ian Curtis impression during its procession of increasingly ridiculous choruses (“It kicks like a sleep twitch!”). The slow building, 1980s-cribbed delights of “Bricks and Mortar” are so visceral, any resulting video will have to be cut on vintage gear. Meanwhile, the carnivorous electro-pop celebration of “Eat Raw Meat=Blood Drool” and its earworm refrain, “I give a little to you I give a little to him I give a little to her” is easily among the best of their catalog. And that is something worth smiling about. (www.editorsofficial.com)

Author rating: 6/10