Songs for Polarbears

Songs for Polarbears is Snow Patrol’s debut album, released on 31 August 1998 in the UK and 12 October in the US.

The album charted at #143 in the UK and did not sell well upon its initial release. However, its re-release eventually went Gold in the UK.

The band was listening to a diverse range of music at the time, with majority of it being American rock like Pixies, Soundgarden and Dinosaur Jr. Other acts included My Bloody Valentine and Super Furry Animals’ first album Fuzzy Logic. All these influences resulted in a musically diverse album that incorporated styles like hip hop, drone and Pavement-style indie rock. The album title is a reference to the band’s previous name Polarbear.

All lyrics are written by Gary Lightbody; all music is composed by Gary Lightbody and Mark McClelland.