Editors - Papillon

At the start of the year we wrote here about fashion and pop music and how they do not ‘wear out’ but ‘go out’. We suggested that as the landfill indie bands fell out of fashion quicker than you can get Scott Mills into a spray tan booth, some of them may remould their look and sound for a new audience and find new peaks of creativity. We have argued before that all great art continues to evolve, that those with true creative passion will never be satisfied just doing or listening to the same thing as they did in the past.

Editors may have never fallen into the landfill indie category, their music being of a darker taught widescreen tone, but it seems that this creative urge runs through the groups veins. New single Papillon retains the essence of what has gone before with Toms recognisable Joy Division styled baritone vocal singing “Darling, just don’t put down your guns yet, if there really was a god here, he’d have raised a hand by now,” but the major departure is that guitars have been dropped in favour of Depeche Mode / Gary Numan style synths. Yes it may be jumping on the bandwagon with the world of synthtopia so in fashion right now, but better to be still riding the wagon both creatively and commercially than being left behind alone disappearing off the radar. Of course the truly great bands don’t just ride, they drive along the roads they build themselves and collect passengers on route. Editors are not doing that yet, but Papillon is still worthy of attention.

The album In This Light And On This Evening from which Papillon is taken is released next month.