New Music: Introducing - Lights On Moscow

We’ve all heard of bands and artists that took extraordinary amounts of time to follow up a record. Be it the 5 years it took The Stone Roses to return with Second Coming or the 15 years that Gun ‘N’ Roses spent pissing around before they made the frankly pretty terrible Chinese Democracy. But until today I’ve never heard of a band that took 8 years to put out their debut song.

However, that is exactly how long it has taken Lights On Moscow to release material, having first created an online presence in 2010. 

Thankfully this is no Guns ‘N’ Roses tale of time wasting, egos and artistic differences; the two members of the project, Hazel Wilde of Lanterns on the Lake and Justin Lockey of Editors and Minor Victories have been pretty busy with their own respective bands, and it’s only now that they have pit out the captivating and atmospheric Lord Let Me Know, the first song from a forthcoming EP called Aorta Songs Part 1 which will be released on October 12th. Describing the project as ‘an almost band like a really sad Roxette’ the duo said that they had talked off and on for a long time about putting the music out and now felt like the right time. 

Ironically, given the talk about the right time, Lord Let Me Know feels pretty timeless. It certainly could have been released at any point over the last decade or two and sounded right. A gorgeous mix of Hazel’s instantly recognisable soothing tones and some languorously beautiful music, it does indeed sound sad to its very core. It's a magnificent record that fans of the likes of Mazzy Star will undoubtedly appreciate.

Lights On Moscow - Lord Let Me Know

Editors @ Portsmouth Guildhall

Tom Smith is in an apologetic mood tonight. After the first five songs the slender and black-clad lead singer of Editors takes a break in proceedings to admit that the most embarrassing thing he has ever done on stage happened at this very venue. Last time Editors played Portsmouth Guildhall he charged on announcing “Good evening Norwich,” to much audience derision. It was not a good start. So it’s time for a humble apology. Acknowledging his error and celebrating the fact that tonight Editors are most certainly in Portsmouth, Smith wins the crowd over and receives a big cheer.

In a disposable world where the music industry seems geared toward short term thinking, it’s a testament to Editors staying power that they have now released three albums since their 2005 debut. Their third, 2009’s In This Light And On This Morning, even secured a number one UK chart position. It is evident from the bands performance why, unlike many other Brit indie rock bands that appeared in the mid-noughties, they have not faded away. Editors are professionals at their game, playing a well paced set that is musically tight and crowd pleasing, featuring a number of songs from all three of their records.

In front of four framed square projection screens, the band open with the title track to their new album, a darkly menacing song that heralds their new heavily synth based sound. The crowd reaction is a little reserved, but as the set develops and older songs such as Lights, Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors and the scintillating riff-powerful Bullets make an appearance things warm up significantly.

It’s not just the old songs that work though - bathed in green light The Big Exit sounds like a beautifully synthetic motorway journey, weaving bassy keyboard sounds amongst the robotic textures. The single Papillion is also hugely enjoyable, a thundering and celebratory romp through Depeche Mode’s own back yard. Tom Smith may be a fairly monosyllabic front man, mainly just offering the odd “Thank you,” to the audience, but is engaging to watch, whether he’s hunched double-handed over the microphone stand or pulling wiry shapes across the stage. His deep baritone like a softer Ian Curtis is also richly impressive, particularly when the music is stripped back to just a piano on No Sound But The Wind with its touching lyrics of “I’ll help you carry the load, I’ll carry you in my arms.” There are many times during Editors set when their music sounds weighty and doom laden, yet it is never less than enjoyable. When they play their best songs, such as the closing Papillion and Fingers In The Factory it’s even better than that and gives a palpable high to the end of the show.

Editors can consider this gig a job well done. A set which contains enough humility to find an apology but with enough pride and self-contained arrogance to not fall into the role of being mundane or wet-wipe average. Let’s hope that they continue for the long term.

Editors - You Don't Know Love

Back in October we called Editors third album In This Light And On This Evening a mixed bag. (Review here) It seems our opinion was higher than most, the album generally receiving lukewarm to poor reviews. The hard copy version of the NME listed it in their Top 10 worst albums of the year. However, out of the mixed bag we found there were three particularly good songs. The first Papillon has already been a single, the second In This Light And On This Morning is a great opener but not really radio friendly, and the third is You Don’t Know Love. It therefore comes as no surprise to see You Don’t Know Love released as the second single from the album, towards the end of January. Remixes of the track have been completed by Rob Da Bank, Tom Middleton and Caged Baby.

Formed around two repeated riffs, one from a synth and one from a guitar (yes the rumours of Editors going fully electronic are somewhat exaggerated) You Don’t Know Love finds lead Tom Smith bringing dark lyrics about running with the dead through cemeteries, but don’t expect any Michael Jackson thriller type dancing from the band. Instead the video, shot by Christopher Boyle, features what looks like a thinner Guy Garvey from Elbow look-a-like conjuring up acrobatic, twirling, whirling and hair unfurling fighting / dancing with a young goth lass, whilst the band play in a cupboard. There’s probably some great artistic statement behind it, but we’re damned if we can explain it.

Incidentally, if you can afford it and it is still available, may we recommend the bonus disc version of the Editors album with the additional CD Cuttings II - which in places is better than the main album - although maybe if the reviews got it right, that probably wasn’t that hard.

Editors - You Don't Know Love

EDITORS | MySpace Music Videos

Editors - In This Light and on This Evening

Let’s get the obvious out of the way right at the start. For their third album In This Light and on This Evening, Editors have by and large dropped the electric guitars and replaced them with synthesisers. It has divided some fans and critics alike and opened up the arguments about bands evolving. Is it a good or bad thing? And should that evolution be a natural subconscious one over a gradual period of time, or a very deliberate and immediate conscious choice? For Editors this change appears to have been strikingly deliberate.

It seems to Breaking More Waves that the band were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. Another album with same sonic construction as The Back Room and An End Has a Start would have most likely led to a slowly diminishing fan base. Many followers would lose interest, uninspired by more of the same, although the loyalty of those that remained may have become more passionate. Take a band like Oasis for such a model. More importantly though it may have had a detrimental effect on the artistic ability of the group. The regurgitation of more of the same may have dulled Editors creative nuance, ultimately leading to a paler imitation of their previous work. Again Oasis is very much the model here. A conscious change, however great the risk of polarising fans has the benefit of potentially rejuvenating flagging creative brain cells. It’s that old cliché that a change is as good as a rest.

Following these arguments it is therefore necessary to forget that the band have changed their style and simply ask, is the album any good. If this was a debut album the critics comparisons with their previous work would not and could not exist. So let’s criticise purely on the basis of what we hear.

What we hear is a mixed bag. In The Light and on This Evening is not an immediately obvious album. Besides the lofty industrial dance of first single Papillon with its massive Depeche Mode / Gary Numan keyboard riff - the sound of black steel demolishing the palace, there is nothing else here that jumps out as particularly radio friendly. However repeated listens show an album with some subtle depths and a cinematic electronic sound. When the band get it right works really well. Occasionally it does fail, but there are still some redeeming features in the weaker songs.

The opening title track of In This Light and on This Evening is superb. Starting with a repetitive pulsing gothic synth, lead singer Tom Smith intones darkly in the style of Andrew Eldritch lyrics about the earth inhaling and spitting rain before concluding “London’s become the most beautiful thing I’ve seen.” The mantra is repeated over and over as layers of widescreen string synth sound are gradually added before dirty experimental fuzzy noises, retro free jazz rock keyboards and drums smash apocalyptically in, the whole track working and wigging out to the stars. This is one example of the band getting it exactly right.

On the other hand, The Big Exit is one of the songs that doesn’t quite cut it, the song being a little too experimental, an unsettling mechanical groove underpinning a track that loops its way to the finish, without ever really finding a song. Likewise The Boxer is a maudlin piece that brings the imagery of “This place is our prison, it’s cells are the bars,” to describe a walk through a city full drunken violence - the dark side of drink culture Britain. Unfortunately the song kicks around the gutter rather than a golden highway, never finding a quality melody or the sounds to wrench you in. In both songs however Smiths singing is wonderfully mournful and the vocals clear enabling the lyrics to be easily heard.

But by and large In This Light and on This Evening is a bold album with a dramatic film like quality to it. Its sound is dark without being black, but has enough warmth in its calculated glacial synth sound to demand the attention. It is unlikely to propel The Editors further into the mainstream, but to answer our original question, is the album any good ? For the most part yes, as long as you listen with an open mind and take your time.

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.