‘It pines lost youth, a song that looks back with wide-eyed wonder at a previous chapter of my life.’

This is how Tom Smith describes the single Lights Of New York City, released on 19 June and accompanied by a video produced by Niali Trask.

Smith, known as the founder and lead singer of Editors, is launching his solo career driven by the need for personal reflection on his own life.

After two decades of composing with Editors and two albums with Andy Burrows (in the duo known as Smith & Burrows), this single opens up a purer representation of the British singer’s writing.

A simple construct, far from the disruptive energy of Editors, with an acoustic guitar and piano providing the backdrop for Smith’s voice.

A voice whose elasticity and baritone timbre give it such range that, in a ranking of the twenty best UK singers, it was placed in first place, surpassing sacred names such as Freddy Mercury and Bono Vox.

The album, due for release in December, is arousing curiosity.

It will be interesting to see Smith, one of the best frontmen around, dealing his innermost feelings and listen him in the role of crooner.

On his only Italian date at the Barezzi Festival, he will present this new challenge and a more whispered reinterpretation of Editors’ greatest hits.