What is it about Scotland, anyway? This is the cradle of culture that spawned Sean Connery, Primal Scream, Trainspotting, and Austin Powers' former enemy Fat Bastard. Add to that list Snow Patrol, related to fellow Scots Belle & Sebastian by friendship and musical influences. Where B&S couch their sardonic wit in deceptively gentle, '60s-ish, baroque pop, Snow Patrol combines a similar approach, along with fierce guitar noise -- not unlike My Bloody Valentine -- and elements of prog-rock. (Note the closer to SP's latest, Final Straw, "Same," progeny of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.) Where B&S aim to beguile, Snow Patrol emotes, albeit with a dash of affable rock-world bombast. By some, the band has been hailed as the next... whew, caught myself in time. There's no need to hobble a band as good as this with absurd expectations. I mean, how many "new Dylans " have there been, anyway?

Catch the Snow Patrol's drift in sunny Florida along with opener Athlete at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 28, at the Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $16. Call 954-564-1074.