Eyes Open by Snow Patrol

Eyes Open, Snow Patrol's fourth album, came out on Polydor on 28 April 2006 in Ireland, and it's the band at their most widescreen. Jacknife Lee produced, and it's the first record without bassist Mark McClelland and the first with Paul Wilson on bass and Tom Simpson on keyboards, joining Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly and Jonny Quinn. The sessions ran through the last three months of 2005, moving from Grouse Lodge Studios in Ireland to The Garage in Kent and then to London's The Garden and Angel Recording Studios.

"Chasing Cars" is the one that changed everything: a slow, spare ballad that builds from almost nothing to a swelling, heart-on-sleeve climax. Its turn in the season 2 finale of the TV hospital drama Grey's Anatomy carried it around the world. "You're All I Have" is its bright, charging counterpart, all urgent guitars and big, open-armed hooks, and "Hands Open" jangles and bounces with a restless, nervy energy. "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" slows right down into something hushed and aching, and "Shut Your Eyes" glows gently.

Six singles came off it, "You're All I Have" and "Chasing Cars" both top 10 hits, and no album sold more in Britain that year: 1.5 million copies of Eyes Open went out the door in 2006. Over the whole decade it came in 15th on the sales tally, and it stands among the biggest sellers British charts have ever seen. A 20th anniversary edition arrived on 24 July 2026.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.