Editors - The Back Room (Limited Edition) (2005)

The Back Room is the debut studio album by British rock band Editors, released on 25 July 2005 through Kitchenware Records. They formed while attending university, and later migrated to Birmingham, where they would play club shows and make demos. After signing to Kitchenware in late 2004, the band recorded their debut album at three different studios in Lincolnshire, London and Wolverhampton. The majority of the album had been produced by Jim Abbiss, save for one track that was produced by Gavin Monaghan. The Back Room is a post-punk revival, gothic rock and indie pop album that has been compared to the various works of Echo & the Bunnymen, Elbow and Interpol.

"Bullets" was released as lead single from The Back Room in January 2005, which was followed by a tour of the UK. "Munich" and "Blood" were released as the album's second and third singles in April and June 2005, respectively. The album's release was promoted with a UK tour throughout July 2005; following their debut US show in September 2005, "Bullets" was re-released. Editors then supported Franz Ferdinand on their tour of the UK, leading to their own headlining tour at the end of 2005. In early 2006, "Munich" was re-released; they promoted it with tours in the US and the UK. "All Sparks" was released as the fourth single in March 2006, which was followed by a co-headlining US tour with Stellastarr. "Blood" was re-released in June 2006, after a short UK tour, and was promoted with another US tour.

The Back Room received generally positive reviews from music critics; opinions were split on the Editors' influences and the lyrics, but were receptive to frontman Tom Smith's vocals. The album reached number two in Scotland and the United Kingdom, in addition to charting in Ireland, the Netherlands and the United States. All of the album's singles performed well in the UK: "Bullets" peaked at number 27; "Munich" peaked at number 10; "Blood" peaked at number 18; and "All Sparks" peaked at number 21. The Back Room was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Prize, and was later certified platinum in the UK, and gold in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. It appeared on several album of the year lists by the likes of Drowned in Sound, NME and PopMatters, among others, as well as appeared on best of the decade lists by laut.de and OOR.