Editors

Summer's back and so am I! Finally. I'm glad to have so much free time, though - not that much of it is being spent on anything other than obsessively organizing my iTunes and watching Scrubs reruns.

Lately I've been listening to almost nothing but Editors. Now I realize that by saying this I've firmly placed myself approximately two years behind the rest of the world, but in my defense, I attempted to be skeptical of them at first. The last band I'd heard such relentless "RIYL The Smiths and The Cure" from attempting-to-be-hip teen weeklies was My Chemical Romance, and I certainly didn't want to repeat that mistake. Then everyone else discussed Interpol, Joy Division, R.E.M., and U2, to which I replied, "That's probably fantastic, but I have other things to think about..." I couldn't have chosen worse. As I lay in a Back Room-induced haze, I can't imagine a life without Editors - and from what I've heard of An End Has a Start, it's going to be similarly incredible. (Actually, "The Weight of the World" was really what I wanted to post, but I'm a little iffy about posting things before they're released. Which is just to say, yes, I'll post it at some point post-AEHAS.)

So for something completely different - "Bullets".

This is the first many had heard of Editors (as far as I can tell) and it's a gorgeous introduction. It touches all the common points of reference, providing a base for any listener to stand on (that is, to be completely stereotypical, the college students can discuss the vaguely Paul Banks vocals, while the middle-aged former hipsters can rave about the Edge-ish guitar work...) and yet has a sound completely its own. The entire song is infused with a relentlessly exciting intensity best exemplified by the ending, when the track is carried almost solely by drummer Ed Lay. What a great song.

[Buy The Back Room]