Artist
Editors
Why we feature this artist From the scrape of a guitar to the pulse of a synthesiser Editors began with clipped guitar patterns, a powerful low voice and songs that sounded as if they were moving through bad weather. They subsequently let electronics take over…
- From
- United Kingdom
- Sound
- Indie rock, post-punk revival, alternative rock
- Active
- 2002–present
Start with the music
Tracks to explore
The artist, in context
The story of Editors
Why we feature this artist
From the scrape of a guitar to the pulse of a synthesiser
Editors began with clipped guitar patterns, a powerful low voice and songs that sounded as if they were moving through bad weather. They subsequently let electronics take over much of the scenery. The distance between Munich and Papillon is considerable, yet both depend on the same mixture of urgency, repetition and emotional pressure.
The first two records
The Back Room appeared in 2005, introducing Tom Smith's baritone against sharp, interlocking instrumental parts. Bullets, Munich and Blood had the concise force of singles, but the album also knew when to hold something back. Chris Urbanowicz's guitar lines were a crucial part of its surface, cutting across the rhythm rather than filling every available space with chords.
An End Has a Start followed in 2007 with a larger sound. Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors begins with a scene far more specific than the usual language of an arena chorus, then opens into one. The title track and The Racing Rats gave the band similar room to expand. The arrangements grew, while Smith's sombre phrasing kept them from becoming merely triumphant.
When the machinery changes
In This Light and on This Evening, released in 2009, made synthesisers central to the record. Papillon drives forward on an electronic figure, replacing much of the early guitar friction with a physical, repeating pulse. This was a substantial change of method, rather than a little electronic decoration added to an established rock sound.
Later records continued to move between those poles, including the forceful electronic textures of EBM in 2022. The band has never relied solely on one particular instrument to create intensity. Editors' more enduring habit is to make a simple figure feel increasingly urgent, then let Smith deliver a line that makes the surrounding darkness personal. Their catalogue records several different ways of achieving that effect.
Essential releases
The Back Room
Bullets, Munich and Blood set the early balance of cutting guitar lines and low, commanding vocals.
An End Has a Start
The songs gain scale, with Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors providing an especially vivid opening image.
In This Light and on This Evening
Papillon signals a decisive move toward synthesisers and electronic repetition.