vi olence – Pass Through Fire

Second listen impression of the new songs! o/

Cold: p much sums up Editors that it’s melancholic and heartbreaking but beautiful and cathartic in the same time. The return FalsetTom. Also the lines “it’s a lonely life, a long and lonely life, stay with me and be a ghost tonight” just….. shivers.

Hallelujah (So Low): I’ll be the first to say this was my least favourite of the four new ones they played before releasing anything officially but the irregular almost pulsating pace and the absolute mess of guitars in the middle grew on me completely. This mixture of acoustic/rock/electronic is awesome.

Violence: This Song, man, it was playing in my head all night after I heard it once. In theory the “title song” of the album should have no bigger importance than all the others but I still think it’s interesting to see what song the band thought was representative of their work enough to name the whole album after. I love the minimalistic techno beat, how the title “violence” is sang so gently, the long-ass outro which if they don’t turn into a huge dance party for the live shows with strobe lighting I’ll be Mad. Also Russell Leetch more like Bass…ell…. Leetch, amirite?

Darkness at the Door: I do love it when they mix upbeat and ~dark, as in, it’s an ongoing joke among the fans that journalist tend to think Editors is sad and “troubled” because of the “dark” music they play but the fans know that’s absolutely not true so when they mix undoubtedly negative things with positivity that just makes me so happy. Also songs like this is why I don’t trust it when they say they’re doing more electronic stuff cause this could fit into TWOYL like a dream.

Nothingness: See? “Pick up where ITL&OTE left off”, my ass. Okay so this is not the full-band official release of Nothing, unfortunately, but it’s still a pretty good song, the guitar solo is absolutely bananas, I love the sing-along potential of the chorus.

Magazine: so I’d already listened the shit out of this song by the time it was released so there’s little more I can say about it. This is not the only political song on the album but it’s definitely the most in-your-face political song. I love how dynamic it is and sort of menacing but then the chorus is uptempo and downright dancey, they do that so well 😀

No Sound But the Wind: listen…. actually, i just had an interesting thought, actually, fuck this

Counting Spooks: I don’t understand this song at all x) I love this band’s ballads but I prefer uptempo songs so when something as slow as this comes out I’m always like o_o wHy? But I do like it when they try something new and there’s something endearing about this song. I’ll figure it out, don’t you worry.

Belong: the Last Song on the standard edition. In the pantheon of weird love songs Editors has written this definitely has a distinguished place. I don’t feel the grandiose closure I did with the last three album closers, probably, but I love the choice of instruments. I’ll say this though, it really shows on this song that this album is more inward. I found In Dream a very “us together with you all” album while this has a more “just me and us” feel if that makes sense x) It doesn’t I know, it never does when I try to explain it.

The Pulse: so this was my favourite of the new songs pre-album and let me just say… idk why they didn’t keep the actual pulse in the background, it was so good? It’s like Bricks and Mortar all over again, they took out the best part! Okay, not really bUT STILL. Anyway this song is really cool and it makes me happy and it’s got a very visceral, almost desperate energy about it, it’s good. I don’t like the ending but then again I’ve heard this so many times I just gotta get used to the new version.

When We Were Angels: now this sounds more like an album closer which is why I elect to forget about the standard edition altogether. I know the snobs will say it’s ~too commercial and radio-friendly but I mean know a fuckin bop when you hear one o_o