Eyes Open

Initially hailed/dismissed as Ireland’s answer to Coldplay, on second blush, Snow Patrol’s songs are at once less grand but also, fortunately, less vague than those of Chris Martin. Eyes Open is a slushy, but occasionally moving, record: Guitars and strings swoop over anxious drumming as frontman Gary Lightbody builds the emotional drama without succumbing to the temptation to preen like an egocentric twat.