A Modern Classic: “Eyes Open” by Snow Patrol

I won’t profess this album by the Northern Irish band to be “ground-breaking”, to have “pushed the boundaries” of modern alternative music or any of that type of overused, melodramatic jargon.  It is quite simply an excellent album.

It is an album that remains as loved by Snow Patrol fans today as it did when released in 2006, and for those of you who aren’t avid fans you will still find it difficult to resist toe-tapping or mouthing the memorable lyrics of the album’s many hits.

The problem with modern music is that it remains in fashion for such a short period of time.  Lady Gaga or Rhianna’s new tunes may seem like the best thing since sliced bread for the average teenager but they rarely stay listenable for anything more than two weeks.

Tracks these days are overplayed on the radio to the extent that you don’t even realise that their lyrics aren’t worthy of a senior infant’s homework story.  This album is still as easy to listen to now as it was when released five years ago and that is all down to the musical ability of the band as well as the superb lyrics of Gary Lightbody. 

Lyrics should have meaning.  They should not be hidden behind the latest sounds of revolutionary studio technology.  The lyrics in “Eyes Open” are actually meaningful and audible, something which is terribly hard to find in modern music.  However, I’ll stop before I come across all misty-eyed or continue to slam the modern music culture. 

The album’s music triggers particular memories in my mind.  The first time I heard a sound-bite of the album was when their cover track “You’re All That I Have” was played as the background for a promo for RTE’s GAA coverage.  The much more sombre tune of “Open Your Eyes” still gives me shivers due to its association with a particular radio section broadcast on Today FM celebrating Munster’s historic Heineken Cup win in 2006.

The band was very honest about their thoughts leading into the production of the album.  They knew that they had to up their game musically in order to make the album more successful than its tremendous predecessor “Final Straw”.  They began writing material for the album in Dingle where the band was able to focus their minds in the detached fishing village.  Some of the initial recording of the album also took place in Westmeath where the band grew to love the peaceful surroundings of the old studio where they worked.

These ties with the Republic helped them to accumulate quite a large fan base in the country.  However, their support is much more than domestic.  Snow Patrol became a worldwide phenomenon following the release of “Final Straw”. 

This showed in their distribution of three separate first singles from “Eyes Open” to different regions of the world.  Their first single in America was “Hands Open”, in Australia they released “Chasing Cars” while their European market was treated to “You’re All that I Have”.

All this meant that the band were fully confident of their album’s material as a whole.  It delivers hit after hit to the listener.  It is not a case of one best selling hit hidden in an album of rotten white noise.  Each song is loveable and different in its own way, from the upbeat “Open Your Eyes” to the beautiful duet with Martha Wainwright “Set the Fire to the Third Bar”.

This is not an album to set the pulses racing, while downing a bottle of Captain Morgan in your mate’s room before you head out for a night on the town.  I would recommend this album to anybody who just wants a soundtrack to which you can relax, and that is no bad thing these days.