Chris DeLine

Irish indie rockers Snow Patrol fell into fashion with the band’s 2003 release Final Straw. Blending into its surroundings Snow Patrol found popularity through the band’s fresh appeal; though in all reality it had been a long time coming. Forming in and around 1994, Snow Patrol reveals Eyes Open as the band’s fourth album, finding its increased expectation resulting in, at times, both pulsating musical flair and tranquilizing lulls.

By maintaining a sense of accessibility Snow Patrol’s Final Straw was released to much critical acclaim characterized by its similarities to comparable bands such as the hugely popular Coldplay. The band’s music struck a note with fans of a slower, sentimental brand of rock which was reaching its peak in popularity at the time.Eyes Open offers much a similar style of song though it is being released in somewhat of a different musical environment. The blessings that (mild) overproduction and mellow melodies were to the band’s last release come as handicaps with Eyes Open as they distract from the songwriting and allow the listener to examine how distinct the band is from its contemporaries.

It’s that comparison that allows the listener to both enjoy and find distaste for the group. There is something oddly familiar with Snow Patrol, something that brings about a sense of home, or longing, but with that comes an inferior level of innovation in the music. Some of the finer tracks such as “You’re All I Have” and “Shut Your Eyes” find themselves appealing as such, both comforting and disturbingly similar to much of what has already been recorded and heard within the genre. By appealing to a certain fashion or cast of listener these similarities can easily become a downfall for the band. Though Snow Patrol offer a number of pleasurable songs on Eyes Open, they do so as passive pioneers, offering enough creativity with key tracks that shadow the majority of Eyes Open’s homogeneous output.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]