After producing an award-winning LP, The Back Room, the Birmingham UK band has found it difficult to emulate the successful formula behind their debut album. In their latest effort, In This Light and On This Evening, the band replaces their roaring guitar anthems with more dark electronic dance tuneage. Earlier comparisons with Echo and The Bunnymen and Joy Division have dissipated and now resemble the likes of modern Depeche Mode. While the results are a bit uneven, there are some very scintillating tracks that make this new record a worthy find in the British Indie scene.

Papillon could have easily fit on Depeche Mode’s classic Some Great Reward album. The track features vintage New-Wave synths and Tim Roth’s raw, emotive vocal makes it one of the year’s most refreshing gothic pop tunes in recent memory. The track generated massive reaction at various live venues across Europe and the UK and it has received many club-centric reworks from the likes of Tiesto and Tom Neville.

The album pays homage to 80s bands including the Human League with the track The Boxer. This song could be a ballad about trying to break free from a society besieged with decay and destitution. The chilling lyrics could make even Martin Gore cry out for a plea for mercy. “This place is our prison … It sells the past … so take me to town ... I wanna dance with the city.”

There are a number of tracks that are just too experimental or seem regurgitated from 80s and 90s UK pop and should not resurface on a full-length LP. The title track In This Light ... is a blatant rip off of New Order material from their Low Life album. The UK lads appear to be a bit out of their element with the Cure-esque You Don’t Know Love. It seems to be less vivacious and more an Irish wake. Robert Smith should have supplanted Roth on vocals to complement the track’s haunting chorus.

The Editors could be at a crossroads as they try to rediscover their identity as this decade draws to a close. But In This Light could be forced into a dark hole if it does not appeal to the right niche-based Indie crowd.

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