Recensie Editors

In June 28^th Editors released their fourth album The Weight Of Your Love. Last night the British band gave a very intimate show in the Palladium concert hall (Riga). If a year ago, they performed before thousands of people during the Positivus festival (Salacgrīva, Latvia), then now they were literally at arm’s reach from the crowd. What a hectic feeling, knowing that on November 2^nd they will have a far bigger - their biggest gig in Antwerp at the Sportpaleis. This concert (almost 20 000 people) is sold out.

Editors, in a new structure, reveal that the beginning of the album was not an easy process: “Chris (Urbanowicz) always wanted to put it in his world, with what the rest of us had a little bit of a problem with, because it limited the band. If this was The Black Room part 2 again, I wouldn’t do it,” says Russell Leetch. Chris was asked to leave the band in 2011.

The holes needed to be filled; they went to their last producer, who introduced them to the guitarist Justin Lockey. They had met once, early on in their careers, 10 years ago, when Justin was playing with his band in London. Elliott Williams also joined the tour as a guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocal. “It was a daunting experience - going in and playing songs with them”. He remembered seeing Editors at the age of 17 and now turned out headlining for 18 thousand people. “It was pretty crazy”, he says.

On stage, no one would ever point out anything negative about the new members. The chemistry is obviously there. They proved it by playing the classics “Munich”, “The Racing Rats”, “Papillon”, “Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool“ just as good.

The Weight Of Your Love is produced by Jacquire King, who is known for working with artists including Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Kings of Leon, Of Monsters and Men, Cold War Kids, Modest Mouse etc. He is a multiple Grammy Award winner with nearly 30 nominations. Editors felt that Jacquire King was the right person that would ease them to bring back more guitar sound in their next album. And so he did. “You get the sense there’s new people in the room and it’s inspiring all five of them creatively.”

There’s been a lot of criticism towards the new sound of Editors. It is said, they have partly lost their alternative sound with The Weight Of Your Love. Still, playing 7 songs from their new album: “Sugar“, “A Ton of Love”, “Honesty“, “Nothing“, “Formaldehyde“, “Two Hearted Spider“ and “The Phone Book“ in an acoustic version, they totally had the public’s attention all to themselves.

“We tried to play everything quite simple on this record. We’ve always been fans of classic bands - bands, for who everything seems so effortless,” says Ed Lay.

Editors initially formed in 2003, in the University of Staffordshire, when Tom Smith (lead, guitar, piano), Chris Urbanowicz (keyboards, guitar), Russell Leetch (bass, keyboards) and Ed Lay (drums) met during their studies. Since then four albums have come out: The Back Room (2005–2006), An End Has a Start (2007–2008), In This Light and on This Evening (2009–2010) and The Weight of Your Love with the departure of Chris Urbanowicz (2011–present).

< Marta Lenkevica >