Editors - In the Light and On This Evening

If Orwell was to designate a companion soundtrack to the negative utopian society he creates in 1984, it would probably sound a lot like In This Light and On This Evening. Editors’ lead singer and lyricist, Tom Smith, growls about broken love, drunken violence, and a lack of god on a record where “the filthy city is so close you can smell and taste it.” The electronic bleeps and chilling synths deepen the chill of dark lyrics, depicting the scary reality of London at night. Back in 2005, Editors introduced themselves to the world with an album of menacing guitar stabs that pierced the air with jangly hooks. In This Light, their third album, finds them at their gloomiest. Here they tread the lonely, ominous territory recently explored by Franz Ferdinand and The Twilight Sad. The cold, digital throb explores the growing distance between people in a world more connected than ever. Yet, just when you think the world is going to end, they close the album with the layered, swooning vocals of “Walk the Fleet Road,” a gospel-inspired tune that reminds us that hope is still palpable.