Editors – The Back Room [Vinyl LP]

Editors – The Back Room [Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Gatefold, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: KWX34
• Barcode: 828767147116
• Genre: Indie Rock / Post-Punk Revival / Alternative Rock
• Label: Kitchenware Records / Play It Again Sam / [PIAS]
• Originally Released: 4 July 2005
• Reissue Released: 2012
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

The Back Room is the debut studio album by Editors — released on 4 July 2005 on Kitchenware Records — and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed British indie debuts of the decade. Recorded in Birmingham and produced by Jim Abbiss (who would go on to produce Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in the same year), it entered the UK Albums Chart at number 13 in July 2005 and steadily climbed on the strength of its singles, eventually peaking at number two in January 2006. It has sold over one million copies worldwide, was certified Platinum by the BPI, and earned the band a Mercury Music Prize nomination — placing it in the company of the finest British debut albums of the 2000s. The album spent over 80 weeks on the UK chart in total.

Editors — Tom Smith (vocals, guitar), Chris Urbanowicz (guitar), Russell Leetch (bass) and Ed Lay (drums) — had developed their sound over three years of gigging in Birmingham, drawing explicitly on the post-punk legacy of Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen and The Chameleons: the dark, reverb-drenched guitar work, the driving rhythmic precision and the stentorian baritone of Tom Smith's vocals placed them in clear lineage, without tipping into pastiche. Abbiss's production is central to the album's success — he understood that the band's strengths were in dynamics and mood rather than texture, and gave the record a clear, powerful mix in which Lay's drums sit at the front and Smith's voice cuts cleanly through the guitars. NME described it as an album where "doom and gloom sounds surprisingly uplifting and hopeful" — a description that captures the album's most distinctive quality: its ability to make emotionally heavy material feel emotionally galvanising.

The singles are among the finest of the decade. "Munich" — released as the fourth single in November 2005, reaching number ten in the UK — is the album's most accessible and most frequently played track, built on an unforgettable ascending guitar riff and one of Smith's most direct lyrical performances. "Blood" (the lead single, July 2005, number 18 UK) and "All Sparks" (number 29 UK) preceded it; "Bullets" (number 13 UK) followed. Four UK Top 30 singles from a debut album is a rare achievement, and each one is sufficiently distinct in mood and tempo to demonstrate that the songs were crafted individually rather than assembled from a template. "Lights" opens the album with characteristic restraint before building to a full-band crescendo; "Fingers in the Factory" and "Distance" close the two sides with the album's most atmospheric and spacious moments; "Camera" and "Open Your Arms" demonstrate Smith's gift for melodic economy.

This reissue on Kitchenware / Play It Again Sam presents the album on black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve, and includes a digital download code for the album.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Lights
2. Munich
3. Blood
4. Fall
5. All Sparks

Side B

1. Camera
2. Fingers in the Factory
3. Bullets
4. Someone Says
5. Open Your Arms
6. Distance

Credits

• Tom Smith – Vocals, Guitar
• Chris Urbanowicz – Guitar
• Russell Leetch – Bass
• Ed Lay – Drums
• Jim Abbiss – Producer
• Label – Kitchenware Records / Play It Again Sam / [PIAS]