Rambling Thoughts on Music

What, you might ask, am I doing publishing an occasional blog for more or less two months without recommending a music album? Do I not believe that my music tastes are above average and that I have a special insight into the sort of music you ought to own?

Fear not, I am prepared to recommend a new album to you: Eyes Open from Snow Patrol.

If you visit their webpage, you're likely to notice something that I've just discovered: those dudes really, really look like a bunch of guys from England. The haircuts, the pasty white complexions, even the jackets. It's pretty uncanny (ok, so they're actually from Ireland, but how am I supposed to know about Irish haircuts?).

Anyway, you may remember Snow Patrol from their unbelievably good song "Chocolate" from a couple years ago (off of the album Final Straw). I'm sure that not everyone agrees with this characterization, many people liked "Run" better, but what's the point of having a soap box if you don't use it?

The point of this entry, however, is that if you haven't heard the album Eyes Open, then you should give it a chance. It may not be as good as Final Straw, but then again, I may be swayed by the existence of the song "Chocolate." I believe that was an example of the band playing above their level. A statistical anomaly.

I think this happens a lot to bands; for example, The Postal Service. Their original album, Give Up, is unbelievable. It is probably in my top few favorite albums. But I hope and pray that they don't release more material. It's just going to depress me. Clearly, it can be no better than Give Up...and I believe it could be a lot worse. Look at it this way, have you listened to Death Cab for Cutie (Ben Gibbard's band)? It's just a disappointing experience if you've listened to The Postal Service. They really need to quit while their ahead before they release another album where they try to rekindle the magic and their wikipedia article starts talking about how they used to be good.

Oddly enough, it seems that I've set out to write a quick recommendation of Eyes Open and completely failed to give you a good reason to buy the album. So here you go: I recommend that you check out the song "Set the Fire to the Third Bar." It's a spooky, haunting duet featuring Martha Wainwright. Be prepared to dislike it the first 2 to 5 times you hear it, but after that, you're going to have to buy the CD (or download it from iTunes).