Birmingham Lads Barter Joy Division, Interpol for . . . Coldplay?!

"Smokers Outside Hospital Doors"
Editors
Kitchenware

In 2005, Editors launched themselves into the writhing waters of Brit pop culture with their debut album In the Back Room. Their frenetic, pulsating rhythms caught the nation's attention, and they rode and eventually conquered the fickle wave of fame, earning both a No. 2 place on British charts and a Mercury Prize nomination in early 2006.

The post-punk-tinged rockers are back with their first single, "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors," off their upcoming album, An End Has a Start.

"Smokers" opens almost too perfectly: the stark drum intro combined with Tom Smith's morbid, cracking vocals instantly take the listener back to the brilliance of In the Back Room. And, well, that's where the good stuff ends.

The song settles into a languid, leading-up-to-the-chorus pace which is more dull than it is painful. So when the pain of the cliched, overwrought chorus strikes you in the gut, remember fondly the boredom of earlier verses. At this point, fans of their debut album will be wondering where these Coldplay-idolizing imposters have hidden the real members of Editors.

Things only get worse during the bridge with saccharine lyrics that sound as if they should be coming out of Oprah's mouth and not Tom Smith's. We've all been changed/from what we were/our broken parts/left smashed off the floor. Sorry about your internal anguish, Tom, but that's hardly an excuse for spreading the anguish to others via dumbed-down, armchair philosopher lyrics.

The ending burgeons to bombastic proportions, this time with support from what sounds like an entire choir whose job is to repeat the cringe-inducing "We've all been changed" refrain over and over until listeners, weak and dizzy from the prolonged cringing, slump to the floor unconscious. With any luck, listeners will have suffered acute amnesia, thus wiping away all traces of the offending ballad . . .

The problem with this lazily-wending epic is that Editors do not sound like Editors – they sound like Editors covering Coldplay. And cookie cutter brit pop is most decidedly a step back in the band's evolution. Hopefully, this is an anomaly and not a harbinger of sounds to come for Editors. Even so, the song is merely mediocre; a colossal disappointment for Editors, to be sure, but better than most of the shit being played on radio stations today.

www.editorsofficial.com
www.myspace.com/editorsmusic

Psychoanalysis Disguised as Brooding Alt-Rock

The Study of Man . . .
Night Kills the Day
(Score Records)


Night Kills the Day's debut LP, The Study of Man . . . And the Developed Shadow, is an analysis of human behavior, motivation, and the efforts to exorcise demons before they destroy the fragile human life in which they dwell. Oh, and it's also a pretty damn good album.

Driven by Luke Brian's sardonic, nasally whine (that's a compliment, trust me), and Izzy Lugo's dizzying digital dexterity on guitar, Night Kills the Day has cultivated a sound uniquely their own, despite the apparent divergent nature of genres it encompasses.

It's not dance-rock, not prog-rock, not 70s-era hard rock. Although there are songs on the album that could be classified with each ("Rainbows in NYC," "Even Sharks Don't Kill for Fun," and "Final Mask," respectively).

It is this sound the listener melts into on first listen. It would be mistake to become so enamored with the sound as to forget the lyrics, however. Brian spins his emotions and experiences into a complex web at once both acutely personal and utterly universal.

It's the crack in my heart/it's the hole in my soul/it's the voice in my head/always begging for more/it's the look in your eyes/it's the twist of your tongue/it's the world that I breathe/from inside your lungs, he spits in a frenzied trance on "Pornographic," the album's standout track. His talent in creating and delivering lyrics could one day rival Trent Reznor's.

Cover art (co-created by Brian and his girlfriend) for The Study of Man . . . shows a white orchid in full bloom. It must be symbolic of the band itself, because while the album is quite ambitious in scope for a debut, there are only a few forgettable tracks. On the whole, this is a well-aged and polished effort, and I can't help but wonder why NKD hasn't bloomed until now. The answer, perhaps, lays in the lyrics . . .

Fans of Circa Survive, New Order, Muse and musically elaborate rock in general should grab a copy.





www.nightkillstheday.com
www.myspace.com/nightkillstheday