Whiteout!

So, on May 1st (UK) and 9th (US), Snow Patrol will be releasing their follow up to the MEGA-selling Final Straw, Eyes Open. Although the Guardian described it as "hollow" at the weekend, I'm kinda keen on it. I love Gary Lightbody's plaintive vocals, and, although some might find them slightly anaemic, I have a lot of time for the Patrol's brand of melancholy tunesmithery.

I don't know if it's a result of vocal limitation on the part of Lightbody's part, but I love (what I think) is a pretty understated sung performance on most of the record; the emotion there only really gets overwrought in precious few places, and with the expansive sound that they've picked up since Final Straw, I think there's a really nice contrast. "Hands open" is a real highlight, as is the glorious Martha Wainwright featuring "Set Fire to the Third Bar". Okay, so it's crowd-pleasing, anthemic stuff; but I reckon sometimes that's okay. It may be a lot less raw than the first two records (When It's All Over, We Still Have to Clear Up being my own personal favourite), and musically it may be more pedestrian than either of the Lightbody-spin-off-Hibernian-Caledonian supergroup The Reindeer Section records, but it's still a gorgeous piece of work. My only quibble is with the pointless namechecking of Sufjan Stevens and Illinoise, which seems to me to exist only for the purpose of garnering some good ol' fashioned indie credibility, which to be honest, Snow Patrol don't really have anymore. And frankly, who cares whether they do or not?

Hail the Patrol!

Snow Patrol - Beginning to Get to Me (yousendit / megaupload)
Snow Patrol and Martha Wainwright - Set Fire to the Third Bar (yousendit / megaupload)