Editors

In Dream

PIAS

Recorded last autumn at Crear in Argyll, in a room with a window-length view of Jura, the Birmingham band's fifth studio album is the first they've produced themselves and, with their line-up interruptions now behind them, they're back on more familiar territory after 2013's foray into anthemic guitar rock, The Weight Of Your Love. In Dream will still fill the arenas, but the overall mood is of stillness and constraint building to, well, something a little less still and constrained.

Gloomy opener No Harm sets the stage with its synth washes and a rhythm track consisting of electro blips. Ocean Of Night takes the blissfulness out of a Beloved-style piano riff but otherwise it could almost be a Balearic comedown track while Life Is A Fear does the same thing for 1980s-era Erasure, only with singer Tom Smith sounding more like Stuart Staples of Tindersticks. Or a man who has drunk too much cough medicine. Adding texture to the vocal parts are sterling contributions from Rachel Goswell of 1980s shoegazers Slowdive, who imparts the requisite amount of dreaminess to The Law. It's the album's standout track, an honour it shares with All The Kings, also In Dream's most chart-friendly offering. A solid return and an accomplished suite of songs.

Barry Didcock