Editors — The Back Room

If Interpol are the kings of gloom, Editors are their black-clad little brother who's occasionally prone to spastic bouts of ADD. This U.K. quartet have the Ian Curtis drone, sparse guitars and tight drums down to a science, but miraculously they manage to pull ahead of the rest of the post-punk pretenders. "Blood" sounds so frantic and tightly wound that it could snap at any time, while "Camera" brings it down like a morning spent hung over. Although the lyrics suffer from over-repetition (worst offenders: "Bullets" and "All Sparks"), it's hard not to get caught up in the melodies alone. If there's such a thing as euphoric misery, Editors' music is the definition of it.

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