Snow Patrol: Songs for Polar Bears : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Fuzz-box poet Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol is a quick, caustic wit, but with a gentle side: On the languid "The Last Shot Ringing in My Ears," he rhapsodizes about a pretty girl, then brings himself back to earth with the reminder, "She is someone's daughter." Songs for Polarbears, the debut from this Irish-born, Glasgow-based trio, is full of similarly frayed threads of internal conversation. The more up-tempo material suggests U.K. label mates Belle and Sebastian with a more volatile temper, or what those milquetoast modern-rock radio bands might sound like if they could write piercingly simple, declarative melodies. The softer songs, like "The Last Shot," veer toward Blur-esque existential contemplation. Between those extremes are moments of austere beauty; Lightbody morphs from fulminating preacher to spaced-out choirboy, depending on the atmosphere. Originally issued in Europe in 1998, Songs has been enhanced with five new tracks; these continue Snow Patrol's experiments with texture (a couple feature dense collisions between rhythm section and DJ) and earnest balladry (see the sad and gorgeous "I Could Stay Away Forever"), and indicate that this band has learned how to reconfigure those three familiar rock chords to serve refreshingly personal truths.