Song of the Day: Snow Patrol - "An Olive Grove Facing the Sea"

Before Snow Patrol became the anthemic Irish rockers everybody knows, they were crafting noisy, Sebadoh-indebted gems on records like Songs for Polarbears and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up. From the latter, "An Olive Grove Facing the Sea" marks a seismic shift in favor of melody, one the band would explore to popular acclaim on followups Final Straw ("Run") and Eyes Open ("Chasing Cars").

The pastoral tune describes a peeping tom seeking not skin but beauty. Stately horns and bagpipe-evoking guitar lines usher in a sweeping chorus where singer Gary Lightbody pleads "Let me go out there/I can breathe fresh air/Stay with you all night." And a near-perfect outro lowers the curtain.