CD Reviews

Snow Patrol | Fallen Empires

Interscope (2011)

By MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER | January 10, 2012

2.5 Stars

Word on the street had Snow Patrol looking to change up the big anthem sound for their sixth release. To a degree it's true; the boys apparently got caught up in the recent anniversary of Achtung Baby, though they haven't quite reinvented the wheel like their fellow Irish countrymen in U2 did two decades ago. Sure, there's the steady synth-build opener "I'll Never Let Go" and the near–Junior Boys backdrop in "Called Out in the Dark." But fans of shows like Grey's Anatomy and Cold Case, which have banked on the band to soundtrack wistful moments for years, need not fret — there are actually enough "Chasing Cars" retreads left to satisfy. Singer Gary Lightbody veers back and forth from being a hopeful-romantic singer of big choruses and a whisperer of cornball lyrics. Take "Life-ning": he's happy in the moment — his soccer team doing well, his favorite band on the jukebox. But he's also got "the birds and, yes, the bees." Ugh. Lightbody shines when he's being earnest ("The Symphony"), dealing with longing ("New York"), and waxing pensive ("The Garden Rules"), like he was tryin' to throw his arms around a girl. It works, sometimes.

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