Editors - An End Has a Start

The release of their sophomore album sees Editors moving away from the compact, riff driven style that they've been accused of nicking from Interpol, in favour of a more expansive, stadium-like sound more akin to U2 (an increasingly worrying trend this year) and Coldplay. Opener Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, complete with choirs and slowed-down, singalong chorus, immediately highlights the change, although it does mark itself out from the set as one of the finer tracks. This is succeeded by the best track on the album, An End Has A Start, which coincidentally (or more likely not) is the only song on the album that continues on from where the likes of Munich left off. After this, the Brummie quartet follow an ill-devised formula of forgettable verses and choruses designed to have everyone reaching for their lighters. But with no real edge here, the borrowed idiosyncrasies that made their debut highly listenable are missed. [Finbarr Bermingham]