Snow Patrol – The Forest Is The Path (Polydor) (13th Floor Album Review)

Snow Patrol return with their first new studio album in six years. The Forest Is The Path features a bigger sound from a smaller band that made 2018’s Wildness.

Trivia time! What is the most played song of the 21^st century on UK radio?

That would be Chasing Cars, the best-selling single from Snow Patrol’s 2006 Eyes Open album. The tune even topped the US ITunes charts after being featured on Grey’s Anatomy.

But that was then, and this is 2024. The band tried to rekindle those numbers six years ago by working with Eyes Open producer Jacknife Lee, with mixed results. The album made it to number two on the UK charts but the band’s rhythm section left a year later after a compilation album and tour.

So now, Snow Patrol is a trio, with front man Gary Lightbody the only remaining original member. Still on board are Nathan Connolly and Johnny McDaid, both on guitar and vocals. So, for all intents and purposes, this is Gary Lightbody’s show.

The 34-year-old Northern Irelander has been though some stuff…depression, addiction and the usual lost love, so there’s plenty to write about…he’s reportedly been single for a decade, having admitted to being “rubbish with women”.

Which brings us to the 12 tracks that make up The Forest Is The Path. Co-produced with Fraser T. Smith (Adele/Stormzy), Lightbody and co. have made a record they say is “rooted in reflection, introspection and interrogation”.

Regarding the interrogation aspect…it sounds like Lightbody is asking all the questions to himself. Opening track, All, begins with a declaration, “This is not a love song”, but of course it is, just as all 12 songs are in one way or another. Lightbody’s voice is dramatic, emotive and a just a bit fraught with self-doubt…”I don’t know where I am…I don’t have the strength to watch you go”…he pleads as the layers of synths swell up around him. “so I guess this is a love song after all” he finally realizes.

The first five tracks, including singles All, The Beginning and This Is The Sound Of Your Voice, are equally desperate. Lightbody sounds needy and vulnerable while the music surges up all around him, with a drum sound straight out of 1984.

All that reverb can be overwhelming.

Fortunately the second side is more restrained.

Hold Me In The Fire is an actual rocker, driven by a grinding guitar riff…good to hear those remaining band members put to some use…while Years That Fall features more urgency, more passion from Gary but without the overbearing production.

He has stated that this is “the biggest sounding record we’ve ever made”.  But bigger is not always better.

My personal opinion is that the less bombastic tracks on side two are easier  to connect with. But that’s a matter of taste.

Final track, Talking About Hope, ramps up the production, but it does feel like the end of a journey, so well played there.

Memo to Gary Lightbody…trust your voice and don’t bury it in bombast.

Marty Duda

Snow Patrol’s The Forest Is The Path is released Friday, September 13th on Polydor Records