LITTLE wonder Russell Leetch is in high spirits as he strolls down a New York avenue.

The Editors bass player is celebrating this week as their third album, In This Light And On This Evening, became their most successful to date, debuting at number one in the UK charts.

To mark its triumph the four-piece band have announced a major theatre tour next year that takes in the O2 Academy Bournemouth on March 19.

Meanwhile, they play Southampton Guildhall on Monday supported by Wintersleep and Airship.

“We’re playing all the new material on tour and it’s going down pretty well,” says Russell.

“We’re really testing the audience.”

As well as its runaway success on the domestic front, the album is number two in Belgium and number three in the Netherlands and Ireland, with a host of other top 20 placings across the Continent, plus top 10 iTunes placings in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Italy and more.

“It’s taking people quite a few listens to actually get, and understand where we’re going,” says Russell, 27. “But once they’ve given it a bit of time, they’re really enjoying it.”

The Editors’ dark indie rock has been compared with bands such as Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division, Interpol and U2 ... something that’s not lost on Russell.

“We don’t collectively sit down and listen to records, and say we want to sound like this.

“Reviewers have said we sound like early Ultravox or Simple Minds, which is fine.

“But it’s definitely interesting to see what people are comparing us with this time.

“We make dark pop music, although some of the new songs are more mid-tempo, but it’s still got a dark element.”

The new album marks a change in musical direction for the band, with a heavily synthesised electronic feel replacing the traditional guitar sound on previous Editors albums.

“We’re all experienced keyboard players, so it wasn’t too tricky.

“Everything was recorded as live, so it was about getting everything right first time.

“It wasn’t hard to put it all together because we’d practised so much.”

He recognises the new sound is likely to be a talking point for their fans: “Some will stay with you forever, and others we’ll lose along the way … that’s going to happen with this record definitely.”

If the record figures are anything to go by, the Birmingham band have nothing to worry about.

And, as an added incentive, they’ve released an EP, Cuttings 2, of songs left over from the recording sessions for the latest chart-topping album.

“We wanted more songs on the album, and there was a lot of pressure in the studio.

“We whittled it down from 20 songs to the nine that made it.”