Snow Patrol -- $12 May 2, 2004

SNOW PATROL, CARINA ROUND
(Crocodile) If you loathe Belle & Sebastian but understand why people like them, Snow Patrol is the lumped-together alternative you can get behind and play without faded-green-T-shirt shame. I think it's because, while temperamentally shadowing the Jeepster label's shy indie-shuffle--especially in Gary Lightbody's vocals--they've grown over the last three albums, dodging apocalyptic twee with distortion and pace. They've even worked with big beat's Cut La Roc and now make songs that kind of sound like Placebo. Hooray! Wolverhampton's Carina Round, on the other hand, falls on a bad wreck of middle-England Meredith Brooks emotional vanity, with embarrassing lyrics and a stage name that sounds like it was thought up after a night of sloshed-off drink and puns. So no on that. GUY FAWKES

(from: http://www.thestranger.com/current/up_coming.html)