"An Olive Grove Facing the Sea" is a song by Northern Irish–Scottish

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), and Johnny McDaid (piano, guitar, keyboards, backi ...

from their second album, ''

When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up ''When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up'' is the second studio album by Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that e ...

'' (2001). A re-recorded version featuring only vocalist

Gary Lightbody Gareth John Lightbody (born 15 June 1976) is a Northern Irish musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He has also founded the musical supergroups the Reindeer Section and T ...

's singing and guitar was released on the band's first

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, '' Up to Now'' (2009) and was later released digitally as the second single of the album.

Background

The lyrics to the song were written by vocalist Gary Lightbody, and the music composed by the whole band, then consisting of Lightbody,

Mark McClelland Mark Peter McClelland (born 30 March 1976) is a Northern Irish musician known best as the former bass guitarist of the band Snow Patrol. McClelland is a recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for his work on the album ''Final Straw''. He is now th ...

and

Jonny Quinn Jonathan Graham Quinn (born 26 February 1972) is a Northern Irish musician, best known as the former drummer for alternative rock band Snow Patrol, and was previously a member of bands like The Mighty Fall, The New Brontes and Disraeli Gears. As ...

. The original album version was recorded by Snow Patrol during the sessions for their second album, ''

''. Recording took place at two different studios: The Stables (in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) and Substation (in

Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

). The final mix was done at Substation. The song was produced by Michael Brennan Jr. and Snow Patrol. The song has been described as possibly being "a dream", "a hymn to an imagined presence" and also a "mermaid fantasy", because of its lyrics: "She was an angel / I saw her swimming there". It has also been compared to the

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American ...

song "

Thirteen Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number) * Any of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, or 2013 Music Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ''13'' (Blur album), 1999 * ''13'' (Borgeous album), 2016 * ''13'' (Brian Setzer album), 2006 * ...

" and called its "Stalkers Handbook" version. The start of the song features acoustic guitar, whose strings are "brushed gently" and the cymbals played for "reverberation and resonance", instead of being "struck for impact", according to ''

Stylus A stylus is a writing utensil or tool for scribing or marking into softer materials. Different styluses were used to write in cuneiform by pressing into wet clay, and to scribe or carve into a wax tablet. Very hard styluses are also used to En ...

writer Nick Southall. He has noted that the drumming is "slow and deliberate", and repeated, because "dreams repeat". As the song reaches the chorus, the acoustic guitar stops and an electric one takes over. The end of the song features a trumpet solo as

cadenza In music, a cadenza, (from , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display ...

. Lightbody's vocal on the song invited comparisons to

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...

. Gary Lightbody re-recorded the original version in July 2009 at The Garage in Kent, with Jacknife Lee acting as producer. The new recording was called the "2009 Version" and featured Lightbody singing over an electric guitar. Lightbody called his new version "shamefully self indulgent".

Music video

Snow Patrol filmed a music video for the song on 24 May 2001. It was created with mneTV as a part of the @ìre series, which was broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

and STV. mneTV's Cailean Collier wrote that since the song had been described as a dream, the video interprets this by "blurring the borders between fantasy and reality".

Release and reception

Snow Patrol's recording was released on their second album ''When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up'' in 2001, and 2006, when the album was re-released. Lightbody's re-recording, the "2009 Version", was released on Snow Patrol's first compilation ''Up to Now''. It was later released as the second single from the compilation on 4 December 2009. A digital only single, it was released on the UK iTunes Store. It was also given away as a freebie for a day on the 1st day (26 December 2009) of iTunes' 12 Days of Christmas. "An Olive Grove Facing the Sea" has been mostly praised by critics. It has been called "pretty" and "affecting" and been praised for employing an orchestra. It has also been called an example of the "lo-fi rustic beauty" of the band's early records. In a negative review,

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

said that the downbeat nature of the song was eerie. It was criticized (along with the whole album) for being "ill-timed" and having "misspent emotions". In later years, it has been called a "stone cold classic" and "a bona fide tear jerker". UK magazine '' Drowned in Sound'' in 2009 named it the song to be played to anyone who didn't have enough respect for Snow Patrol as a band. Scott Juba, writing for website ''The Trades'', praised it as "the real highlight of the two LPs" (''

Songs for Polarbears ''Songs for Polarbears'' is the debut studio album by Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol, released on 31 August 1998 in the United Kingdom and 12 October in the United States. The album charted at #143 in the UK and did ...

'' and ''

''). He went on to describe it as "one of the best songs" he'd ever heard, and that it "paints a beautiful picture of love's yearnings and contains enough quiet drama and soothing emotion to completely engross the listener in every word of the eloquently penned lyrics".

Track listing

*UK iTunes: #"An Olive Grove Facing the Sea" (2009 Version) – 4:59

Personnel

;Snow Patrol *

– guitar, vocals *

– bass *

– drums ;Other personnel *Fly by Heart – choir *Rob Dillam – acoustic guitar *John Todd – trumpet

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olive Grove Facing the Sea 2000s ballads 2001 songs 2009 singles Snow Patrol songs Song recordings produced by Jacknife Lee Interscope Records singles Songs written by Gary Lightbody 2000 songs Songs written by Jonny Quinn Songs written by Mark McClelland Jeepster Records singles