Up To Now is a catalogue of the omnipresent stream of tedium that Snow Patrol have so far produced. 30 stupefying tracks form a two hour vacuum of musicality and lyrical sense.  The songs are often so bland that it is impossible to distinguish between them. Three songs have riffs made up of empty fifths. All have Lightbody’s vocals which are limp, strained and breathy.

The most famous songs: ‘Run’ and ‘Chasing Cars’ are senseless musical wallpaper. They are perennially used at ‘emotional’ moments on television but have limited independent worth. Elsewhere, Martha Wainwright’s voice lightens the leaden texture on ‘Set the Fire to the Third Bar’. 1998’s ‘Starfighter Pilot’ is the best track. A fey vocal over a grungey guitar thrash with synth interjections and baffling chord changes it is juvenile and derivative but pleasantly silly.

Light up light up? Up To Now is just dull.