Snow Patrol – Make This Go On Forever

June 15, 2009

Today’s MSMOTD

Snow Patrol – Make This Go On Forever

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Snow Patrol is today’s feature artist because they are actually playing here in Winnipeg in just a few hours!  They’re opening for Coldplay, which is odd, since they are easily a headline-level act.  Anyways, since Coldplay is probably one of the most famous bands in the world right now, I figured I would do Snow Patrol as they are just slightly less known.  They, along with Coldplay and Keane, make up the holy trinity of indie arena rock, and shot into global notice with 2006′s hit “Chasing Cars”.  Great song.  I’m sure you all know it.  But did you know the whole “Eyes Open” album is really great?  So is their new one!  Anyways, here’s an intro to a few of their other, non-hit-single tunes (and my personal favourites).

Im going to have to start finding more interesting band photos... Or they will have to start taking them I guess.

I'm going to have to start finding more interesting band photos... Or they will have to start taking them I guess. A few pyramids in the background, maybe some assault rifles slung across their backs, and a pirate eye-patch on frontman Gary Lightbody would take things to the next level quite nicely. Feel free to do this up in photoshop and post the results!

Make This Go On Forever has long been my favourite Snow Patrol song.  Chasing Cars is fun, but this song’s slow build exhibits a passion rarely found in this sort of music.  Snow Patrol may not quite have the songwriting chops of Coldplay, but I think they imbue their music with a fervor that Coldplay fails to match.  A lot of songs are content to simply trundle along verse-chorus-verse-chorus-conclusion without really going anywhere, musically.  I personally seem to have developed a taste for music that works more as a journey.  Start somewhere, and finish somewhere else, musically.  Make This Go On Forever fills that need with a heart-rendingly gorgeous build to a very satisfying cathartic peak and subsequent cooldown.  Lightbody’s wavering vocals are perfect for this music, and the production is excellent.  I love this song.

(If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It fromA Hundred Million Suns”)

It’s Beginning To Get To Me, off the same album (2006′s “Eyes Open”) is a good example of why Snow Patrol is so popular in the first place.  Incredibly catchy hooks, melodies that are simultaneously beautiful and yet simple, and lots of energy.  This is the sort of arena rocker that I’m looking forward tonight.  Soaring choruses, vocals that break into falsetto, churning guitar lines… The kind of music that’s refreshing and uplifting, even if the lyrics themselves might not be.  Good times.  Lifeboats, off last year’s “A Hundred Million Suns” is a bit of a departure and is definitely more adventurous, musically.  A little more downtempo, with acoustic guitar and sweeping string pads backed by a swaggering beat, this song shows that Snow Patrol are more than just by-the-numbers ballads.  The whole album is actually a bit more mature than “Eyes Open”, and similarly excellent.

Anyways, gotta cut this short because I’m off to see them live with Coldplay!  So excited.  Hope you get to see them when they come through your town.  Let me know what you think of the songs!

- Mons

More music from Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol – It’s Beginning To Get To Me

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Snow Patrol – Lifeboats

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Further info about today’s  MSMOTD

Official Website: http://www.snowpatrol.com/

Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Patrol

Featured Review: Stylus Magazine’s review of “Eyes Open”

Buy Eyes Open and A Hundred Million Suns from Amazon.com, or download Make This Go On Forever from their MP3 service.

3 Responses to “Snow Patrol – Make This Go On Forever”

  1. Snow Patrol and Coldplay are great bands. I have always been inspired by their music.

  2. I loved this band from the second I heard “Chocolate” off one of their earlier albums (and when I found out they were opening for Coldplay, I pretty much nearly died of happiness!)
    Though right now, “Eyes Open” is currently my favourite song by Snow Patrol, I was really pleased to see your choices for the MSMOTD and the music video (which was amazing live!), which are also on my list of favourite Snow Patrol tunes. These guys are amazing. Good choice.

  3. Edit: I meant “Open Your Eyes” was my favourite song.