(A&M Records)
When it is hard to tell if an artist is being genuine or simply combining appropriate phrases together to synthesize an emotion, it debases the record. Even with above-average instrumentation, Snow Patrol's latest album, , claws at sincerity, but never attains it.
It's not bad; in fact, the record is cleanly produced and catchy. The songs are well-developed musically and exude a welcome element of self-restraint. Even so, because Snow Patrol is trying to be taken seriously, and because they are not shooting for that fun yet irrelevant junk pop, their music should be anchored in something that resembles actual emotion.
The band layers string arrangements on toothsome xylophone notes and rhythmic guitar parts, but it simply does not conjure the milieu of love like it is supposed to because the lyrics fall flat.
Lead singer Gary Lightbody's inspiration seems to stem more from star-crossed, naively committed first-time relationships, as compared to the smart and mature lyrics of established pop bands like the New Pornographers or the Apples in Stereo. suffers from campy lyrics and even worse, the instrumentation sometimes tries to make up for it.
Lightbody's voice is steady throughout the record.?? His words are sung safely as the songs unwrap. \And I can barely look at you / and every single time I do / I know we'll make it anywhere / away from here,"" he sings on the track ""Run."" The song then takes a surprising turn toward guitar anthem as Lightbody continues ""Light up / light up / As if I have a choice / Even if you cannot hear my voice / I'll be right beside you dear.""
Perhaps the best track on the record, ""Wow,"" hits the percussion and guitar hard from the beginning; electronic noise rides on the eighth notes, and the lyrics leave the song nothing short of anticlimactic: ""If it looks like it works / and it feels like it works / then it works.""
Good arrangements without lyrics to complement them are still good. But, just a song or two in, surface-nicking approach to the album's apparent muse of relationships stunts the album's credibility. Snow Patrol's attempt at a collection of love songs landed mid-relationship: not moving forward and not moving backward, stagnant and without true inspiration or insight.??
