"Run"

Snow Patrol - "Run" (2003)

Before Snow Patrol really got huge in the US, they had their break through hit in the UK with this track.



Gary Lightbody is the lyricist and lead singer of this Northern Irish/Scottish band. His voice in this song is very breathy. No matter how loud the track gets, he never seems to get too excited, he just keeps singing in low tones and exhaling at the end of many phrases. His voice has character, and I like it; it's not a professionally trained sound. You can hear the hard "P" sound at the end of the word up at the end of some lines. His voice dies at the end of many phrases as well, which is odd to hear in a signed band. Lyrically the song is sung to the singers partner. They are obviously having a tough time, but the singer believes in them. As I side note, this would make a hell of a song for a zombie movie.

As far as the rest of the band goes, this song doesn't really show anybody off. The guitar solo is one of the dullest things recorded. It goes with the song I guess, and anything faster or more divergent would have sounded harsh, but come on. I guess he should be happy, at least he gets a solo, the rest of the band really just acts as time keepers here. Producer "Jacknife" Lee puts together a really good track, building a four piece string section up until they sound like a 10 or 12 piece chamber group. It's a pleasant song, but not my favorite of theirs.