Gig review: Editors

Published on Thursday 11 March 2010 18:05

EDITORS **** ACADEMY, GLASGOW

BIRMINGHAM-FORMED quartet Editors aren't a very fashionable band. Blessed with a set of attributes which push them towards commercial success and away from critical respect, they're placidly handsome, superficially moody in a manner which relies on somewhat pretentious soundbites in their lyrics, and in hock to a collection of far better bands: among them Joy Division, Radiohead and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Yet the value of a good radio song shouldn't be underestimated, and to see Editors live underlines the fact that they have these in abundance. For all that artfully side-burned lead singer Tom Smith's stagecraft is a devoted copy of Chris Martin's rather unexciting style, and therefore a second generation scan of Bono's, his deep, austere voice hits all the right buttons. Early tracks Blood, Bullets and Munich aim for the gritty urban drama of 80s indie, while the recent The Big Exit is positively industrial – in a very polite manner, of course.

Attempts to open up their sound of late have largely succeeded, with Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors and The Racing Rats displaying a more open, arena-friendly sound, new track Last Day eschewing guitars for a bass and keyboard-driven approximation of Muse, and Bricks & Mortar and Papillon dipping just a toe in the synthesised realm of house music. And when Smith's soundbites work, as in the solo, piano-driven No Sound But the Wind's "Help me to carry the fire" refrain, the gap between being a pleasingly functional band and a special one doesn't seem so wide any more.