EXPLOITED&DANGEROUS

I’m always worried I don’t post enough about writing, but in retrospect, I think I’m justified when I do write about musicians and bands and comic books and movies, because they contain writing in some way. I love music for a lot of reasons, but sometimes it’s the lyrics that make the song; I’m more embarassed about a good piece of music with bad lyrics than I am a bad piece of music with good lyrics. Actually, that might not be completely true, but my musical embarassment is a story for another day.

I know some people who prefer instrumental music because they don’t like most lyrics or think the voice ruins the music, but I have to disagree on occasion. Music, for me, needs a good combination of beat and melody and lyric and voice; there’s nothing worse than having someone with a terrible voice but brilliant lyrics, or a wonderful voice wasted on rubbish lyrics. I like a lot of music, though – not as much as some people, but I have about 9000 songs and they cover all sorts of different genres. Some are guilty pleasures, some are genuine love.

Snow Patrol are one of my guilty pleasures, if I’m honest, but it’s a mix between guilty pleasure and genuine love. I’ve known about Snow Patrol for a while, ever since Run (from their album Final Straw) was released, and I didn’t like the song at first, but it’s grown on me. I’ve only heard their three “mainstream” albums – Final Straw, Eyes Open and A Hundred Million Suns – and I like bits and pieces of them. I think, out of all their songs, Somewhere A Clock is Ticking is my favourite, because it’s got that level of atmosphere that isn’t necessary for me to enjoy a song, but I fucking love it if you can get it in. Seriously, chills, hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, all of that.

Anyway, the point of this post was that I wanted to talk about A Hundred Million Suns, their most recent album. Why? Because I love it. It’s undeniably beautiful and it’s a mark of how much I love lyrics, how much I love people who can write good lyrics. It’s a positive album, really; Lightbody wrote the songs about being in love without sounding cliche, and while he had much difficulty with writing them, he believes they’re honest, and… you know, I think they are.

I don’t know where to start, really. I’m not a music critic, I can’t review an album the way Hele can. I love most of the album, though – there are songs where I tune out, but I do that with everything, and it’s a brilliant album to curl up under the covers on a cold winter’s night and fall asleep to. It’s beautiful. I can’t fall asleep to anything that’s not relaxing and warm and inviting and — well, that’s a lie, actually, because I’ve fallen asleep to 30 Seconds to Mars and Def Leppard before, but it’s much, much easier to fall asleep to Snow Patrol. Oh dear, this is implying they’re boring – no, I find it easier to tune out to mellow things rather than angry or excitable loud things, which I think is understandable.

The album opens with If There’s a Rocket Tie Me to It, which hits my long song title love in one go, and it’s a really lovely song. It’s a little upbeat and it’s (probably) about missing a loved one, albeit not because they’re dead or because of a break-up, simply because they’ve had to go away for some reason. It’s really nice, actually, and I’m afraid, as much as I hate the empty adjective that is nice, it’s probably going to be relevant here. There’s a feeling that comes with nice, empty as it may be, and I think it applies. It’s a good feeling. It’s a good song. There’s the hint of longing and loneliness to it, but I think there’s something overwhelmingly good about it too, perhaps knowledge that the missed one is going to come back?

The next song is Crack the Shutters, and if this isn’t the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard then I don’t know what is. I’ll send you to the lyrics, because they are what make this song. Lightbody said it’s the purest love song he’s ever written and… I can’t argue with that. I can’t, because it’s true. I suppose it helps that I’ve got characters I can imagine with the song, and that might be what intensifies it for me (because heaven knows I’m incapable of feeling that way about someone myself), but you have got to listen to this song. It’s wonderful.

And then there’s Take Back the City, which I’ve got to get you to hear as well. It’s a love story for your hometown, so Lightbody says, but I think there’s an overwhelming sense of optimism and “get out there and live your life” to it. It’s a song that makes me want to live, makes me want to go out and love all the imperfections of my hometown because, dude, it’s my hometown. Some people hate where they grow up. I like my hometown, even though it’s quiet and kind of small and boring, but it’s my hometown, you know? But I love Take Back the City for a thousand different reasons, so listen to it:

I’ll skim over Lifeboats because I’ve listened to it, and I like it, but it’s not something that sticks with me as much as the next song does. It is a lovely song, though, and there’s some lovely imagery in the lyrics – I’ll link you to them, because I can’t choose a favourite. But the next song, The Golden Floor, is… wowsa. It’s a beautiful song and the imagery, again, is wonderful, and I can apply to a set of characters again, but damn. It’s got the atmospheric quality to it, too, and you’ve got to listen to it because I can’t explain quite how beautiful it is:

I quite like Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands – it’s where the title of this post comes from, for the record – but I won’t go into too much detail with it. It’s about nostalgia, though, if you can guess, and it’s also very good. My mind seems to skim over Set Down Your Glass, the Planets Bend Between Us and Engines, so I can’t comment, but I’m sure they’re good as well – Gary Lightbody’s an amazing lyricist, and I’m sure those songs prove it as well. I will talk about Disaster Button, though, because it’s a wonderful song – it’s a song about getting a little bit too over-excited in your youth, but it’s amazing nonetheless; you get the sense of excitement and thrill within it, and it’s a very upbeat song. Just listen to it.

And I’ve saved the very best for last, because holy shit is the only way I can describe the Lightning Strike. It’s an epic sixteen minute long song comprised of three different parts: (i) What if This Storm Ends?, (ii) The Sunlight Through the Flags and (iii) Daybreak. They’re different songs in their own right, but they all meld together to bring this seamless, beautiful finish to the album. And I think What if This Storm Ends is my favourite, but the other two are brilliant, and Daybreak brings a last, uplifting ring of hope to the album. Here’s the lyrics. Here’s the song:

Well, thanks for sticking around, folks. I’m aware there wasn’t much of a point to this post once I got down to it, but I just wanted to show you the work of whom I think is a brilliant lyricist. Seriously, I love this album.