Tired Pony – The Place We Ran From

Seeking a brief escape from Snow Patrol and time to record his "long desired country album", Gary Lightbody has done what all the superstars do these days - form a supergroup. It’s a risky move of course. These pet projects often do quite well commercially, there's Jack White’s Raconteurs, Nick Cave’s Grinderman or Josh Holmes’ Them Crooked Vultures. But then there are those that didn't fare quite so well, Dylan et al’s Traveling Wilburys, Slash’s Velvet Revolver or the Ragey Audioslave. Lightbody's been here before though, amassing a who's who of turn of the last decade Scottish indie bands to record two very good albums as The Reindeer Section.

Not too surprisingly the Bangor man's contact book has expanded a little in the intervening years and this time around he's called in the help of Peter Buck of drunken-air-temper-tantrum and REM fame, M.Ward, Zooley Dechanel and Editors’ Tom Smith. Belle and Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn and Lightbody's former songwriting partner Iain Archer, meanwhile, seem to be the only Reindeer who have managed to come back as Ponies. It's not exactly an ensemble with CV's packed full of alt-country records though. And there’s certainly some stretchy slidey lap-steel stuff going on under layers of acoustic guitars (sometimes four or five or six of them, all playing rhythm) here. Violins and keyboards too, but there's not really enough to constitute a ‘country album.’ However if Lightbody's failed to stick to his chosen genre, he's certainly succeeded in delivering a fine album.

Reviews elsewhere have been a little unfair, generally lambasting The Place We Ran From as just another Snow Patrol album. OK, the melodies are quite reminiscent but there are lots of nice surprises here too. Buck brings some wonderful plucking and pulling, adding all sorts of brooding new dimensions and Zooey - who of course is SO hip right now - pops in with the most wonderful vocal on the last two minutes of 'Held in The Arms of Your Words'. Two minutes that have been replayed over and over on this stereo. 'Get on the Road' and 'Dead American Writers', too, are very precisely written. They're consummate pop songs. If one was to ignore any tinges of Snow Patrol - and there are indeed little moments here and there - The Place We Ran From doesn't actually contain a single truly weak song. Most of the music is clean and beautiful. It's easy to listen to and only needs a couple of listens to catch hold of you. From the beginning to the final tracks ('The Good Book' featuring Editors’ Smith and the aptly named, exploding-in-fuzz 'Pieces'), it is simply a very well constructed and perfectly produced record.

Snow Patrol have become a very slick, over-produced stadium band that have lost the real cache of their powers over the last few years. This album, if anything, shows how they could and should sound.