The Place We Ran From their band-mate, "delighted that [Lightbody was] getting to exercise all his crazy ideas." In October 2009, Lightbody in his blog on Snow Patrol's website revealed the members of the group to be Richard Colburn (of Belle & Sebastian), Iain Archer, singer Miriam Kaufmann (Archer's wife), and Jacknife Lee. He talked about two more members whom he was very excited about, but didn't name them. He also stated that the album won't be country as was being reported, but would be "country-tinged". In January 2010, "Hot Press" reported Peter Buck (of R.E.M.) to be a member of the group. Lightbody described
Gary Lightbody songs with such themes, he eventually abandoned his efforts as he found all of them awkward. Lightbody has said that all of the songs from the first two albums; "Songs for Polarbears" and "When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up" were written from personal experience. His lyrics often criticise himself or are self-deprecatory. He has cited "Chocolate" as an example, which he wrote after cheating on his girlfriend. He also considers writing a sort of "therapy" for himself. Lightbody's songwriting has earned him much praise. In October 2009, he revealed that a certain "public figure", whom he