The Editors: Beyond the Clamour of the World

“The clamour of the world we live in, amidst wars and politics, and the way in which events, commentary and anger are conveyed to us every day is something oppressive and terrifying.” From a sofa at Discoteca Laziale in Rome, Tom Smith and Elliott Williams – singer and multi-instrumentalist, respectively, of the band Editors – speak to Il Foglio about the relationship between music and a present marked by tensions and conflicts. The occasion marks the release of their eighth album, Surface, Echo & Sound, due out on 30 October, which will be presented at Alcatraz in Milan on 3 February 2027. The two musicians also reveal that “we’ll be back in Italy in the summer, including Rome”.

The British band’s music, they explain, “has always been more of a form of escapism, an emotional response to those events, rather than a way of dealing with them head-on”. Consequently, on these eleven tracks, they have returned to a more traditional approach to writing and recording: “The most important thing was for us all to sit down in a room, work on the songs and make sure they worked”. The result is a more organic sound, featuring real drums, bass, acoustic guitars and mandolin.

Following In Dream, Violence and EBM – three albums characterised by a strong exploration of electronic music – the band felt the need to change their approach: “Those were mechanical, robotic records. Now we’re back to playing all five of us together in one room.” Surface, Echo & Sound was conceived in the countryside, in Gloucestershire: “I was about to go on tour with my solo album, There Is Nothing In The Dark That Isn’t There In The Light,” explains Smith, “and I wanted to spend a bit more time at home before setting off. The others were happy to come and stay with me, and I was finally able to sleep in my own bed.” The singer recalls that summer, full of blue skies and dusty air – an experience in stark contrast to that of EBM, which was recorded remotely during the Covid pandemic: “We were connected online, sending each other ideas, at a time that was frustrating and traumatic for everyone. Looking back, it almost feels like a place that existed only in our heads.”

Starting with the first single, ‘The Rush’, which tells the story of two people talking in a bar and helping one another, the themes of closeness, love and human connection recur throughout the new album as a response to the anxiety and noise of the world. “We focus on the people we’re with, the time we have, and those we love,” they explain, whilst the outside world remains in the background. In the past, the Editors have tackled geopolitical tensions, and Violence was “probably the point where we came closest to responding directly to world events, but even then it was an emotional reaction rather than a way of solving problems”.

Then there is artificial intelligence, which the editors have treated as an advanced search engine: “We’ve used it for silly things, like figuring out how Brian May achieved a particular guitar sound or how to change the MIDI input on old keyboards”. For the two musicians, AI can save the time that used to be wasted poring over instruction manuals, but it remains a tool unrelated to artistic creation: “We’re not convinced it will be able to recreate music with the same human narrative. And it’s not part of our lives – we’re 45 years old.”

In an age where everything is immediate and at our fingertips, music requires patience and dedication. “To do anything worthwhile takes time,” explain Smith and Williams, “such as making an album, a film, writing books, learning an instrument or being a good band. Not everything can or should be instant.” Allowing the songs to breathe, embracing the effort and the value of craftsmanship to transform the individual experience into something to be shared with the audience: this sums up the approach taken to create Surface, Echo & Sound.

For the Editors, music has the task of lifting human beings out of their everyday lives, “providing a bit of spiritual positivity, pulling you out of the ordinary, giving you hope or light when things are frightening and dark, revealing something otherworldly that makes you think and lifts your soul”. Because, as they admit, “we’re just an indie band trying to tug at the heartstrings and evoke an emotional response”.