A Fine Return To Form
Having been bowled over by, 'Run', but mostly indifferent towards most of Snow Patrol's other material, I had a sneaky play through of my dad's copy of their new album looking for similar epics. It wasn't until I hit upon, 'Set The Fire To The Third Bar', that I realised the CD couldn't be consigned back to the coffee table; this one track is a tentative, fleeting moment of angst filled beauty that fills you with wintery shivers of excitement. Of course the gasping voice of Martha Wainwright shadowing Gary Lightbody's soft drawl is the key to this number, along with the icy trembling of the fragile piano, which turns this into an epic anthem of massive proportions that remains tender despite its dimensions.
They might not get your party jumping, but Snow Patrol can certainly pull a well-crafted beautiful tune out of the bag just as we're beginning to doubt them.