Editors - In This Light and on This Evening

A third album from Editors, another smotheringly pretentious title and another internal debate about whether singer Tom Smith would rather be Ian Curtis or Chris Martin. For all that Smith’s sonorous tones reflect those of the late Joy Division singer, his band’s music is less soundtracking industrial ruin, more fretting over your carbon footprint.

Early indications are promising. The title track starts off like a John Carpenter soundtrack before deploying the histrionic guitars, and ‘Bricks and Mortar’ takes obvious inspiration from Brad Fiedel’s Terminator theme. Yet the record runs out of urgency as it continues, as pale imitations of The Smiths (musically in ‘The Boxer’; thematically in the clunkily titled ‘Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool’) lack conviction.

(Columbia)