Snow Patrol are returning with a new album, “The Forest Is The Path.”
The 'Chasing Cars' hitmakers now consist of Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly and Johnny McDaid, following the departure of drummer Johnny Quinn and bassist Paul Wilson.
The follow-up to 2018's Wildness, due for release on September 13th, was produced by Fraser T Smith (Adele/Dave/Stormzy) and the band.
Lead single “The Beginning”, out now, marks a new start for the group, who have also announced an arena tour of the UK and Ireland in 2025.
Gary said: “I wrote ‘The Beginning’ from start to finish on the very first day.
“He recorded the vocals in one take,” Johnny said.
“I wrote the lyrics right after that, so it feels like I'm peering into someone's soul, it's like my heart is breaking.”
Gary confesses that after going over a decade without a relationship, his love for the person fades over time, but that person is always there in the background.
He explained, “I hadn't been in a relationship for a long time, more than 10 years, so 'distant love' to me meant the way a relationship that was separated by, say, 10 years, remains in your memory. I hadn't thought of it that way before as a way to write about love. So when you're in love, you're standing in the lobby of the Empire State Building. When you break up with that person, you go out onto the street. You can still see the building, but it's not there anymore. And then 10 years later, you're standing in Brooklyn looking at the Manhattan skyline.”
“That kind of sums up the album,” the frontman adds, referring to the consistent theme that appears throughout the LP.
“It's a way of looking at all the mistakes I've made and all the pain I may have caused from a place where nothing hurts anymore except when I pull the memory back into my mind. The memory itself is painful, but everything around it is not. I have a ball of fire in my hand, but now I have gloves on.”
As part of the arena tour, Snow Patrol will play eight shows, including at The O2 in London on February 15, 2025.
Fans who pre-order “The Forest Is The Path” through the Snow Patrol store will be entered into a pre-sale for the tour, with tickets going on pre-sale at 10AM on June 5th and on general sale at 10AM on June 7th.
For tour dates and ticket details, visit snowpatrol.com.
The Forest Is The Path tracklist:
1. “Everything”
2. “The Beginning”
3. “Everything is here and nothing is lost.”
4. “Home of your heart”
5. “This is the sound of your voice”
6. “Hold Me in the Fire”
7. “Falling Years”
8. “I never get tired”
9. “These Lies”
10. “What if nothing broke?”
11. “Speaking of hope”
12. “The forest is the way.”