There’s a bittersweet refrain towards the end of Editors’ song ‘Bricks and Mortar’. “I hope life is good for you”, sings frontman Tom Smith, and as I take in the view of London from their top-floor hotel suite, it seems that life for the band itself right now is nothing short of great.
With their last album The Weight of Your Love bagging top ten album spots in 11 different countries and a brand new album in the pipeline - not to mention the stratospheric success of their three previous albums - the Stafford-based band seem to be in a jovial mood.
The day before our rendezvous, Smith, alongside bandmates Russell Leetch (bass guitar) and Edward Lay (drums), joined us at a special Sony Hi-Res Audio event held at the legendary Metropolis Studios. With The Weight of Your Love and their 2009 LP In This Light and On This Evening now available in Hi-Res quality, we invited them along to discuss the making of both albums and to share their experience of listening to both records in Hi-Res.
“There was a real depth to [the sound]”, says Smith, who is leaning forward in his seat, taking plenty of time to consider his answer. “You can delve into your songs and you can hear sections that really poke out that you kind of forgot you recorded. As an artist looking back it's great, because you have memories of doing those parts and you recall how you produced those parts on the record. But for a general listener; if they want an immersive experience and they want to sit there and really get into an album, [Hi-Res Audio] gives them the tool to do that.”
The band were joined at Metropolis by renowned U.K music journalists Craig McLean and Pete Paphides as well as Sony product specialists Mike Somerset and Eric Kingdon - all of whom were on hand to demonstrate the latest Sony Hi-Res Audio products in all their glory.
Having consequently spent a large majority of the day listening back to their own songs repeatedly, the band surely had plenty of time to gauge which song benefited most from the extra fidelity and increased space that Hi-Res Audio provides.
This time round, Smith’s response to the question is immediate:“'Bricks and Mortar' on In This Light... was one that made all of us go ‘oh OK yeah, it's noticeably different.’ You could hear certain elements, certain frequencies...especially some of the synths that are bubbling away.” Russ and Ed nod in sync, as though Tom has plucked the words right out of their mouths.
“When things get squashed and squashed and squashed in traditional MP3 format, those things get lost a little bit - the subtleties I guess - and we noticed it on that song in particular,” Tom says. “And the way that the song is - the different kind of rhythms that are happening - it's quite choppy, and to hear them in such clarity was a surprise.”
While compressed MP3 files are all well and good in certain situations, Hi-Res Audio is at the forefront of the campaign for a heightened listening experience that favours quality over quantity - it’s about delivering music as the artist truly intended.
I ask the band whether listeners can truly appreciate music when listening to it through the cheap built-in speakers on their smartphones and laptops . “There’s just a time and a place for everything,” says Ed. “A lot of people listen to [MP3s] going to and from work or they just have them on in the background and it’s thoroughly enjoyable doing that. But Hi-Res gives you the opportunity to go deeper into the music if you really want to.”
Sound quality has always been paramount for Editors. The band first met while studying the same music technology course at Staffordshire University, and while they quickly realised they weren’t cut out to be engineers or producers (“We did the first semester, and I think we all knew that we didn’t have it in us to be that dude in the studio”), they’ve consistently thought about how they record their music and who with, hiring a different producer for each of their albums so far.
“Over the course of the four records we've made we've learnt a lot and I think we're quite hands-on now in terms of our opinions and using the studio as a tool,” says Tom. Their musical progression from debut album The Back Room to where they’re at today certainly portrays this. Time has seen them stray further away from the traditional band set-up, incorporate various synthesizers and electronics drums into their music, and navigate complicated, unconventional song structures. Put simply, they’re not the kind of band willing to rest on their laurels.
Using everything they’ve learnt from the countless hours spent in studios around the world, they’ve decided to self-produce their forthcoming record - perhaps their most ‘hands-on’ decision as a band thus far. They’re currently working in a studio hidden away in rural Scotland, with legendary American engineer Jacquire King (responsible for Kings of Leon’s ‘Use Somebody’, no less) on hand for good measure.
“It was only really meant to be a writing session, but with hopes of recording little bits and pieces along the way,” says Ed, “and actually it’s turned into us deciding that we want to produce this record ourselves.” With the record due out “probably after the summer” next year, it’ll be fascinating to see where these sessions take the band.
As our time together draws to an unfortunate close, I ask the band to pick an album - any album at all - that they’d love to hear in Hi-Res.
“When we switch off in the evenings,” says Ed, “when we turn the equipment off and go play a game of FIFA, Robert Palmer’s Clues has been on all the time.”
“...and Bill Wyman’s Je Suis Un Rockstar,” adds Russ. “I want to listen to that in Hi-Res!”
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Download two Editors albums - The Weight of Your Love and In This Light and On This Evening - in Hi-Res Audio from various online retailers including Qobuz.
