Snow Patrol

The 2004 release of Final Straw, Snow Patrol's third album, catapulted the Scottish band into the upper echelons of Britpop and has kept the band touring for nearly two years. Blending British pedal rock and American alternative guitar pop, the disc artfully balances anthemic rock with influences like Belle and Sebastian and My Bloody Valentine. The warm melancholy of singer Gary Lightbody's voice works equally well whether atop a shoegazer crunch of guitars or the laidback soundscape of a pastoral ballad.

Final Straw follows the quartet's 1998 debut Songs for Polar Bears and 2001's When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up. With each record Snow Patrol has improved in leaps and bounds, and Final Straw saw the group finally embraced, on both sides of the Atlantic, by a mass audience ready for its distorted guitar, fizzy drum beats, and emotional, woozy pop. Eyes Open, their latest, is one of the most highly anticipated of the year, and promises to take the band to even greater heights.