EXCLUSIVE: Editors' First New Tune

The Editors / Photo By Kevin Westernberg

British rock quartet Editors are back with a new album -- and something is missing, glaringly so: guitars.

Their new material surges with icy synthesized sounds that veer sharply from the angular post-punk riffage of their first two albums.

But, thankfully, this sonic gearshift manages to avoid the cool detachment that can dehumanize keyboard-led rock, and that was all part of the plan. "The idea was to try to make an album that wasn't cold and disconnected even though it was mechanical," frontman Tom Smith tells SPIN.com. "Even though it was more synthetic with more electronic elements involved, [the album] was recorded live as a band all playing at the same time."

"In This Light & On This Evening," available as an exclusive stream below, is the album's title track, and a fine example of the band's ability to manifest warmth, beauty, and even rage from banks of synths.

And that's all the more important considering the song is Smith's love letter to his adopted hometown of London, an ancient -- and distinctly analog -- sort of city.

"It was inspired by a particular moment -- the vision of a certain view of the skyline that I see every day when I'm at home, and while I don't necessarily take it for granted, maybe I just don't take notice of it," Smith explains. "On one particular day, it was the moment between day and night, there was a storm brewing, and it just took my breath away."

In This Light & On This Evening is out Jan. 19, and Smith hopes Editors will tour the States -- bringing all these new instruments across the pond with them. "I always love it when you see bands and the stage is just littered with loads of shit," he says. "I hope with every record we introduce some more clutter to the stage."

Check out the track below and tell us whether you'd bless that onstage mess, or if it's Editors' new songs that are truly cluttered.