Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol reigned supreme in indie rock circles and topped the iPod playlists of plenty of scene snobs for several years before breaking through in the alterna-rock universe with 2006's Eyes Open, which featured the heartfelt hit, "Chasing Cars." So the obvious, burning question that precedes A Hundred Million Sons is not how will the hipsters react to the Irish band's first record in the wake of their newfound alt music eminence, but how did Snow Patrol handle their post-success writing process?

Whether or not you've abandoned Snow Patrol after the rest of the world latched onto them is immaterial. However, you'll be glad to know that Snow Patrol continued on the same righteous sonic path they forged before achieving "band of the moment" status. As for that "sell-out," it didn't happen on A Hundred Million Suns.

The album's expansive opener "Crack the Shutters" comes in like a lamb, it but goes out like a lion, with an escalating, roaring mood and tempo that develops throughout the course of the song. Deeper cuts, such as "Lifeboats" and "Set Down Your Glass," are warm, contemplative ballads driven by lilting piano melodies. These are the songs that'll revive fond memories of "Chasing Cars." The diverse, multi-chromatic vocals of Gary Lightbody and his turbo-charged riffs are the anchor of Snow Patrol's sound and they remain intact throughout the entirety of A Hundred Million Suns. Despite the illuminated title, the album is a bit morose in its mood, which is to be expected. Lightbody and Snow Patrol have never manufactured happy or upbeat music, and they're not switching gears here. There's a heaviness of heart present in each note and lyric, while Lightbody's voice is the expressive conduit that carries that sustained emotion from his person to the listener's ear. It's a powerful, direct connection between the band and its fans. Maybe that's why so many elitists were so angered by the band's crossover, seemingly overnight popularity and didn't want to share them with the masses! But as the old adage suggests, music always finds its audience. Even though Snow Patrol have increased their listeners, they've retained the integrity and soul-searching intensity that afforded them a career in the first place. Things aren't that different, musically, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

— Amy Sciarretto
10.30.08

If Final Straw introduced Snow Patrol to the mainstream and Eyes Open cemented the band's popularity, then A Hundred Million Suns is the group's ultimate bid for stardom, its slick production and sonic uplift designed to maintain Snow Patrol's place in the charts. Like "Chasing Cars," the mega-single from Snow Patrol's previous album, tracks like "Take Back the City" and "If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It" are slyly repetitive -- their hooks are cyclic, each comprising only a handful of notes, and their straightforward familiarity helps maximize the songs' singalong potential. But A Hundred Million Suns also features more curve balls than the band's past catalog, from "Lifeboats" (an icy love song with synthesizer glissandos and falsetto harmonies) to "The Golden Floor," whose handclap-and-stomp intro recalls the light hip-hop flavor of OneRepublic's "Apologize." This is where Snow Patrol sound best -- at the intersection between marketable pop/rock and something more challenging, whether it's an unexpected arrangement or an interesting melodic turn.

The band's appeal also owes a good deal to Gary Lightbody, who maintains his status as the least famous frontman of a very famous band. He's the boy next door, a musical Everyman who's just as average looking as Chris Martin and only half as desperately self-effacing. Looks may have little to do with an artist's music, but such appearances help ground Snow Patrol's music, even while "Take Back the City" and "Please Take These Photos from My Hands" reach for the same stars that U2 routinely grab. When A Hundred Million Suns focuses on music -- not saccharine radio fodder like "Chasing Cars," but actual music, with twists and turns that haven't been mapped out by generations of likeminded balladeers -- the album warrants Snow Patrol's existing fame, presenting a band that aspires to pop/rock grandeur without developing the accompanying ego. ~ Andrew Leahey, Rovi