‘Eyes Open’ by Snow Patrol

The phrase ‘difficult second album’ is widely recognised in the world of music. It refers to the problems a band can have when they’re attempting to follow up a successful first album, usually in a shorter space of time, and usually with a considerably higher degree of pressure. ‘Eyes Open’ is the fourth album by Snow Patrol, but as their first two albums failed to be noticed by more or less anyone, it feels like a second album, and it carries with it all the associated baggage.

It’s a very confident record from start to finish, and generally, the songs themselves are good, but somewhere along the way, some of the individual sparkle still on display for ‘Final Straw’ has started to vanish. ‘You’re All I Have’ opens the record in fairly standard and familiar form, ‘Hands Open’ is louder but less worthwhile. The third track, ‘Chasing Cars’ is the albums focal point – a huge hit single, and a genuine anthem, but one that’s never quite rung true for me. I’ve never really worked out way, as it’s obviously a good song, but it just feels a little too much like it was written to order, designed to be this album’s ‘Run’. That said, I’m not sure why it would matter, even if that were true. Track four, ‘Shut Your Eyes’, has always been my preference, as it doesn’t seem to have any such agenda. It’s a straightforward song, but with enough twists – notably the choral section at the end – to give it a lift were necessary. ‘It’s Beginning To Get To Me’, in contrast, has no such twists. Like track one, it’s a decent enough song, but the sort of song you imagine Gary Lightbody could write in his sleep. In the middle of the album are three songs – ‘You Could Be Happy’, ‘Make This Go On For Ever’ and ‘Set The Fire To The Third Bar’ which, between them, give the album its soul. The first and last of these three are the albums quietest moments, the first backed predominantly by glockenspiel, and the last given focus by Martha Wainright’s guest vocals. The middle is louder, and almost relentless by the end, but without the empty bluster that Snow Patrol’s noisier tracks have a tendency to suffer from – track nine, ‘Headlights On Dark Roads’, being an obvious example. The album ends well. ‘Open Your Eyes’ starts quietly and builds up to suitable ending climax, and ‘The Finish Line’ acts as a gentle epilogue to a record that, to all intents and purposes, has finished.

Overall, this album is a triumph for the band, but it’s a triumph that carries with it warning signs for the future. There is a clear progression between this album and its follow up, and not in a good way. ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ would ignore all the good things about this album, and instead, amplify all its weaker points. Time will tell whether this would be an irreversible slide.