A piece of chocolate from Bangor’s finest
5
By jslehman
It may have been only a year since Snow Patrol, the Northern Irish quintet consisting of Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Paul “Pablo” Wilson, Johnny McDaid, and Jonny Quinn released their most current album entitled Wildness, but fans are already clamoring for new music.
Released as part of a yearlong, multifaceted project to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary that also included a massive show at Bangor’s Ward Park back in May that saw them play to a crowd of 35,000 fans from around the world, a second upcoming Reworked EP and a full album of other reworked material, as well as special shows tentatively planned for the end of 2019, fans got their first wish with Reworked EP 1.
Containing one brand new song (“Time Won’t Go Slowly”) and three old songs that fans have sang along to for years (“Chocolate”, “Open Your Eyes” and “Crack The Shutters”) they demonstrate the band’s versatility of playing different musical styles, from Michael Buble-esqe crooners (“Time Won’t Go Slowly”) to synth drenched auto tuned electronica (“Crack The Shutters”) and gentle lullabies (“Chocolate”).
In an interesting change, Chocolate and Open Your Eyes have been turned into much more ethereal versions than their more rock influenced cousins that were first released on 2003’s Final Straw and 2006’s Eyes Open, respectively.
Over gently strummed guitars, Lightbody transforms Chocolate, originally an ode about cheating on a girl he was with at the time into almost an apology note of sorts, singing so quietly that the listener can almost feel as if they’re sitting right next to him. On Open Your Eyes, backed by Connolly and McDaid’s masterful guitar work, soaring harmonies and a beat in the background of the song reminiscent of the constant beating of a human heart, he wishes for someone to be able to see him again (physically or metaphorically, this writer doesn’t know).
The thing about Snow Patrol is that you have no idea what sort of styles they’ll use in their songs. One can only hope that time won’t go slowly until the next set of reworked songs are released.
