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Editors - An End Has a Start A second album is crucial because the band have had chance to take stock, crystallise what they’re best at, and discard the chaff. The fact that many sophomore efforts never match that uninhibited debut is testament to how few bands really have the depth to go the distance. Thankfully Editors have done an Empire Strikes Back and not a Matrix Reloaded with An End Has a Start.
Its strength lies in the counterpoint between the intimate, private lyrics and the huge, driving sound that powers everything forward. “The saddest thing, that I’d ever seen, was smokers outside the hospital doors” goes the chorus on first single, Smoker Outside the Hospital Doors, which is an appropriately punchy opener for the album. It’s clearly a song about the death of someone close, and yet, as to be found throughout the album, it’s not necessarily depressing. Conversely, it’s clearly been a cathartic process for the band, and as such the listener can sense that release of tension, getting carried along by it too. The title track is defiant as Tom Smith sings, “You came on your own – that’s how you’ll leave”, and refused to let up from start to blistering finish.
The break comes in the form of track three, The Weight of the World. Well, almost. As the title suggests, there’s a bleakness to be found here too, and after the gossamer-fragile hymn that is the exquisite middle eight, the music again builds to breaking point. Not in terms of speed, but if you glance outside you won’t be surprised to see that a storm cloud has descended.
There’s a lyric on Bones, the fourth track, which perhaps sums up the overall sentiment of the album; “In the end, all you can hope for, is for the love you’ve felt to equal the pain you’ve gone through.” So if it wasn’t already obvious, Editors are drawing on some dark material for inspiration.
And yet, this reviewer can’t stop listening to it. I honestly can’t recall the last time I listened to an album so frequently. It’s just so good from start to finish - an impeccable collection of songs, both in terms of arrangement and song structure. Yes it’s dark, but it’s inspired. It’s got something it has to say and like a black hole you can’t escape the pull.
Tapping into our collected fears, Editors have somehow absorbed all that nervous energy and spewed it back out as a beautiful, dark matter. Nowhere is this clearer than the intense The Racing Rats, as Smith hurls a question skyward: “If a plane were to fall from the sky, how big a hole would it leave on the surface of the earth?” Whether he gets a response or not, the sheer weight and pace of the music is resolution enough.
At times it recalls Doves, but that’s no bad thing. Sonically, it’s not so far from The Back Room, and those relatively high-pitched guitar riffs and the thumping drums remain at the core of the sound. But by sticking with that formula, and factoring in their personal experiences since, An End Has a Start feels like a more coherent whole. There’s a majesty to be found throughout, which was hinted at in several tracks from the debut (such as Munich for example), but somehow never quite enveloped the whole record. As it stands, An End has a Start is an album with a strong gravitational pull that’s impossible to shake. And rather akin to a planet, be prepared for some heavy rotation.
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