Editors – In This Light and On This Evening

If Ian Curtis hadn’t hanged himself in 1980, and Joy Division had carried on throughout the ensuing decade, they may well have ended up sounding like the new Editors album. Of course, Editors have often been criticised for their overt Joy Division-via-Interpol genealogy, but with album number three they’ve moved on – into New Order territory. There are divergences from this safe strategy however, such as the motorik beats and primitive keyboards on Bricks and Mortar, a full-on Sweet Dreams-style intro on Papillon, or the industrial post-punk clatter on The Big Exit. But the problem with their progression is that they lay on the retro electronics too thickly, as if eager to prove how much they’ve changed. As for the lyrics, while most are oblique and disconnected, singer Tom Smith even evokes the 1980s’ unashamed melodrama when he sings “headlights in your rear-view mirror, a panther’s eyes as he preys on fear, you hunt for love, you election-eer.”