Eyes Open

I'm getting a little sick and tired of music critics and indie elitists. They tout the same names over and over again (Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear for example), and though I agree with them on a lot of the bands they go gah-gah over (TV on the Radio and Radiohead, who are two of their poster children, happen to be two of my favorite bands), lately I've found myself defending some great artists and great albums against scathing reviews and back-and-forth mudslinging on rateyourmusic.com. One of these artists is Snow Patrol, and in particular, their 2006 album Eyes Open.

But I don't feel like writing about how a lot of the "brains" in music are wrong about this album. I want to use this time to give this album it's proper praise.

Maybe it does nothing for you. Maybe you saw that "Chasing Cars" is actually on it and decided to walk away. But as I've realized lately, there is something about Eyes Open that keeps it sounding fresh even today. Oasis's Definitely Maybe may still stand alone as the album where I find every single track to be an absolute gem, but Eyes Open is one of the handful where all but one track is incredible (sorry "Headlights on Dark Roads", even though you're not exactly terrible). Even the bonus track, "Warmer Climate" is an amazing song, and at one point, was my favorite one on Eyes Open. Listening brings me back to spring of freshman year, but unlike other memory-evoking albums, has lost very little over the past three years.

If you can only listen to one track, listen to "The Finish Line." And listen to it when you're relaxing, or when you're about to go to sleep. Technically the final song on the album (for those editions without "Warmer Climate"), it brings everything to a standstill. There's no percussion, and there may not even be a guitar there either. The only way I can describe it is through one of Gary Lightbody's lyrics in the song: "I feel like I am watching everything from space." It'll be worth it, I promise.