Snow Patrol

Posted by Alexandra Juryte May 27, 2018

Snow Patrol

(Release) Snow Patrol premiere “Empress,” their second single from Wildness, the band’s first album in seven years. Snow Patrol recently appeared on Jools Holland” where they debut a live rendition of “Empress,” along with performances of “Life On Earth,” “Heal Me,” and “Chasing Cars.” Listen to “Empress” here and watch the band perform the song on “Later... With Jools Holland” here.

Snow Patrol will return with Wildness, which finds the band searching for clarity, connection, and meaning, while staying true to the melodic songwriting prowess that brought them to prominence. Wildness taps into something raw and primitive. Lead-singer and songwriter Gary Lightbody says of the album: “There are many types of wildness, but I think it can be distilled into two: the wildness of the modern age, all its confusion, illogical and alienation and a more ancient wildness. Something primal, alive and beautiful that speaks to our true connectivity, our passion, our love, our communion with nature and each other. This is the kind of wildness the album is centered around. The loss of it. Trying to reconnect with it. To remember it.” Watch the album trailer for Snow Patrol’s Wildness here.

Since their 1998 debut, Songs for Polarbears, Snow Patrol have racked up an impressive number of critical and commercial accolades, including 15 million global album sales, 1+ billion global track streams, five UK Platinum Albums, and are Grammy, BRIT Award and Mercury Music Prize nominated. After their Fallen Empires tour ended in 2012, band members —which also include multi-instrumentalist Johnny McDaid, guitarist Nathan Connolly, bassist Paul Wilson, and drummer Jonny Quinn — decided to take a step back from the band, and focus on their own projects. Gary Lightbody continued his work with his Tired Pony side project with members of Belle and Sebastian, R.E.M, Reindeer Section and Fresh Young Fellows and moved to Los Angeles to begin writing songs for movies (including “This Is How You Walk On” for 2017’s Gifted), and doing a number of high-profile co-writes with Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Biffy Clyro, and One Direction. Taking this extended break from Snow Patrol proved to be a source of inspiration, and writing songs that were not pulled directly from his own psyche helped heal what Lightbody considered to be not so much writer’s block as life block.

It’s in this search for clarity and connection that these songs were written and refined. “I think it’s the first record I’ve ever written that I haven’t just asked a bunch of questions. I actually tried to figure out why I was unhappy, why I feel out of place, why I’m afraid,” says Lightbody. “There’s nothing really to protect myself for-- it’s all in the album. I want to remember.” This impulse was partially inspired by Lightbody’s father, who is suffering from dementia. “I think the album is defined by memory in a lot of ways,” says Lightbody, “including my father’s loss of memory.”

Recently, Snow Patrol debuted music videos for “What If This Is All The Love You Ever Get?,” “Life On Earth,” and “Don’t Give In,” and you can watch them all here.