Music - A Hundred Million Suns (Snow Patrol; 2008)

I'll be breaking new ground with this, as I've never actually reviewed music before.  And even when I do talk about what music I like, it's often in the context of individual songs (hence, my love of the mix tape) as opposed to entire albums.  Plus, my firm belief that musical taste is much more varied and individual than taste in, say, film or television. But there must be an art to album creation and track placement, and that DOES intrigue me...I just don't know if I have the vocabulary or know-how to speak intelligently about it.

Not like that will stop me.

And with that, let's look at A Hundred Million Suns, the 2008 album released by Snow Patrol.  First off, why the hell did I even buy this album?

Sometime in 2004, I was in the movie theater, waiting for a flick to start, and while watching the random slideshow of trivia and real estate advertisements that aired pre-film, a catchy song was playing over the sound system...it turned out to be Snow Patrol's "Run," off of their Final Straw album.  Found it to be really catchy, went out to buy the entire album, and liked several of the tracks.  Several years later, their song "Chasing Cars" (from their Eyes Open album) became another one of my faves.  But since then, I hadn't really heard much new from them.  So, on a whim last weekend, I checked to see if they had any albums after Eyes Open...and that's when I stumbled upon A Hundred Million Suns.  And decided, what the hell, might as well check it out and experience a band I liked a fair bit during the prior decade.

One thing I'll give Snow Patrol...you can definitely pick their tracks out of a line-up.  I think each of the eleven songs on the album had their unique, earnest and soulful (?) sound.  But even within that, there is a mix of styles...and I was definitely partial to the earlier tracks on the album (especially the opening track, "If There's a Rocket, Tie Me to It").  These earlier tracks are reminiscent of "Chasing Cars," where there's a driving beat and an energy that I just connect with (later tracks got a little slower, a little more mellow).  It closes with a 16-minute long track in three movements called "The Lightning Strike," which was heavily orchestrated (by which I mean it sounds like there was a full orchestra on hand to help out), almost as if for a film score.  I also particularly liked that (long) track.

Now, if this were an entry on a movie I watched, this is normally where I'd give a recommendation.  But, finding it hard to say whether or not to check it out.  If you know of Snow Patrol, you probably know whether or not you like them.  If you don't, the most I can hope is that the description above gets you to check out a track or two.  But did I like them?  Yes...I don't listen to this type of music much these days, and it was a refreshing change...and I know of several tracks that'll go into rotation in some of my playlists.