Snow Patrol - 'Final Straw' (Polydor)
4/5
By: Toby L
Hear that? The sound of relief. After years ploughing a trade, Irish indie-no-hopers Snow Patrol have done it, achieved the ultimate - proven a worth.
We know what you're thinking - at what stage is it clear that a band has established relevance? Simple - the defining song, a hymn of communal order and genial, instant appeal.
For this foursome, it's recent top-five hit, 'Run' - a track which knowingly marries the grandiose majesty of Coldplay's 'Yellow' with throbbing, scraping guitar and the lo-fi, withering charm of a band brought to the edge of relative obscurity before taking a spinning U-turn which sees them gatecrash the mainstream without sabotaging a sense of cred. Cunning.
Masterfully, their latest studio-LP continues the formula. These are competent, darkly melodic odes as ragingly infectious as they are robustly jilted. An air of the assuming rings true throughout, and songs segue into one another coherently and swiftly, often brandishing the same (successful) formula over and over - rigid, hoarse vox from vocalist Gary Lightbody, airy, breezy guitar-refrains, whirly, eerie atmospherics and a loveable immediacy which seldom tempers the momentum.
Highlights, there be a few - the wheezing pop of 'Spitting Games', choir-like innocence of a beauteous, chiming 'Chocolate' (cue: their next chart-single), and wayward, dusty, rattling of 'Gleaming Auction'. Come 'Run', set in the correct context alongside its compatriots in sound, and it's clear the underachievers of yore have somehow nestled into the league of the superstars.
When the tempo remains creeping - a strings-soaked 'Grazed Knees' - it's evident this is a band of more confidence and dexterity than it would at first seem, moving, gently epic, and ambitious. And, ambition, you'd hazard a guess, is the very tool that got them even to this far stage. After years existent in the murky wilderness, most would've quit. Not Snow Patrol. And their presence and burgeoning, deserved success now is not just something they themselves should be celebrating. We should be too.
Artists in this article: Snow Patrol
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