Wow! It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve heard from these guys. Asides from a greatest hits and one song on the Divergent<\/i> soundtrack, it\u2019s been almost eight years since the band\u2019s last record. Since then, frontman Gary Lightbody has made some good music with Tired Pony, written with Taylor Swift, and beaten writer\u2019s block. Guitarist Johnny McDaid split from Courtney Cox and is now a hit songwriter, having collaborated with Pink! and Ed Sheeran. The band has also ditched their longtime keyboardist and moved away from the dance-pop sound heard on \u201cCalled Out In The Dark\u201d and back to something a little closer to home. \u201cDon\u2019t Give In\u201d is an earnest ballad that\u2019s already picked up a lot of radio play but doesn\u2019t rise above its melodicism to do anything. \u201cLife On Earth\u201d is a different thing altogether. A bit indie rock, a bit of balladry, the song is kin to \u201cRun\u201d or something a bit more vaguely alternative that Snow Patrol fans have liked for quite a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmpress\u201d sounds like a leftover from Eyes Open <\/i>updated for a new generation; it\u2019s a really good track worthy of repeats. \u201cHeal Me\u201d has some weaker lyrics and isn\u2019t one of the strongest tracks here. Likewise \u201cA Darker Switch\u201d starts off with a hip-hop beat and leaves the listener scratching their head as they hear the strings. I was left wondering what the everloving hell was going on here. I don\u2019t know, but whatever it is, it ain\u2019t working! <\/p>\n
\u201cSoon\u201d is another slow burner, yet it\u2019s good. The band has almost moved on from the dance sounds and moved more towards atmospheric singer\/songwriter types of tracks. It\u2019s like James Taylor of the \u201870s meets synthesizers and angst. \u201cWhat If This Is All the Love You Ever Get?\u201d is a straight-up piano ballad that is strangely beautiful. I can\u2019t really explain it, but it\u2019s something about Lightbody\u2019s lyrics that just move me and make me think about things around me. This is definitely a striking song that I wasn\u2019t expecting; it\u2019s good to see that straightforward singer\/songwriter types haven\u2019t completely been erased from the musical stratosphere. <\/p>\n
Looking over this record, it\u2019s really a mixed bag. Some songs are outstandingly good and make you remember why you liked Snow Patrol in the first place, while others leave you scratching your head and wondering where were they going with a song like this. Still, this release is a welcome return for a band that decided to almost go back to their classic sound. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":33493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8296],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-45312","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-snow-patrol","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45312"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}