Posted on: September 8, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

This special EP was created to show that even the Editors’ B-Sides and tracks left on the cutting room floor were still better than 99% of indie rock on the market currently. The first track on the disc is “Heads in Bags”, and it shows the lead singer of Editors coming forth with a Morrissey meets Bauhaus approach to things, sounding cold but really being very emotional all at the same time. The instrumentation is reduced to make the vocals dominant, creating a track whose home is surely the eighties, but has enough power to reach listeners in the current period. The ability of a band like Editors to come up with two distinctly different eras of sounds in their music is something that shows their capacity. This brand of classical vocals comes back seriously during the disc’s second track, “Colours”.

Another strength of Editors have to be their ability to create cohesion even when the tracks are not necessarily created to talk amongst each other. Even though “Colours” has a more Interpol like feel to its few minutes of runtime, there are the same hints of eighties influence that started out “Heads in Bags”. The repetition of a certain phrase during “Colours” hammers home the band’s style and makes “Colours” a track that will be sung along with for the rest of the summer.

The track may be four minutes, but the second batch of repetition on this track brings a certain sense of timelessness to the track; individuals lose any idea when the track began and when it will end. The band is sneaky during “You Are Fading”. While the opening of the track is very morose and quiet, the drumming and distorted guitars come in heavily a few seconds later. The two disparate styles unite to create something that sounds like a blend of U2 and P.O.D.’s “Youth of the Nation”. The backing guitar lines, coming back to the same type of repetition that made “Colours” so catchy, give the track a body that is nothing to scoff at. This may only be a five song EP, but the band is able to come up with a cohesive style that will last until the band can get into the studios and start on the follow up to their last album. For fans of Editors, this disc should be enough to tide them on until the new disc hits stores.

Top Track: You Are Fading

Rating: 7.2/10

Editors – Rarities / 2006 The Fader Label / 5 Tracks / http://www.editorsmusic.co.uk / http://faderlabel.com / Reviewed 16 August 2006

[JMcQ]

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