The singer for Scottish rockers Snow Patrol (whose Eyes Open is one of the year’s sleeper hits) digs soul and indie rock

1 Sufjan Stevens “The Dress Looks Nice on You”

Lightbody loves the sweetness of this track from the indie-folk wunderkind’s fourth album. Seven Swans: “He’s so intellectual and incredibly versatile, and yet there is this almost childlike quality to his music, which makes it unique.”

2 Etta James “At Last”

“It could be my favorite song of all time.” he says of the exultant love song James made famous in 1961. “I go through turmoil every time I hear that song. It breaks my heart and it mends it, all in one. I think it’s the most perfect song ever written.”

3 Field Music “Tell Me, Keep Me”

The British trio founded by former Futureheads drummer Peter Brewis is “like the Beach Boys meets Wire.” This 2005 track boasts “incredible harmonies and incredible repetition: Sometimes lyrics become resonant by repeating them all the time.”

4 Joni Mitchell “Help Me”

Lightbody says the message of Mitchell’s 1974 tune is that “love can be completely exasperating and can turn you upside down, but at the beginning we’re not crying to be saved. That comes later.”

5 Death Cab for Cutie “Transatlanticism”

“I feel like I’m just charged by electricity when I listen to it and exhausted when it’s over.” he says of the epic 2005 album of the same name. “If there’s one song I wish I’d written, it’s this one.”