Snow Patrol remain the Patron Saints of overthinking romantics.
Mature can be a dirty word. When used as a musical insult it implies a ‘lacking’. A lack of energy, a lack of risk, a lack of excitement. Oh, your music is mature? Boring.
But maturity comes for us all. Snow Patrol’s breakthrough album Final Straw came out 20 years ago – it would be worrying if they were the same people now as they were then.
The band’s new album, The Forest Is The Path, is a restrained and thoughtful consideration of mature relationships. But don’t worry about the M word, it continues their vulnerable expression of the anxious inner world of romantics. To cut to the chase, this new album is a worthy addition to the impressive Snow Patrol back catalogue.
Gary Lightbody and ‘The Band’ (more on that later) have always been straightforward spokespeople for the complicated feelings of three-dimensional humans. Their songs aren’t ever just ‘Happy’ or ‘Sad’, rather they capture the overthinking nuances of a worried yet confident mind. With the amount of caveats and intricate feelings they contend with, they should soundtrack Pixar’s Inside Out.
Yet they have previously turned the feeling of holding back emotionally into arena thumping singalongs – getting a million introverts to feel seen at the same time is an impressive trick. (Don’t pretend ‘Run’ doesn’t still put a twinkle in your heart.)
The Forest Is The Path starts off exactly like this. It takes just 1 minute before the first soaring singalong chorus kicks in on ‘All’. Sidenote: At this moment I would like to thank Gary Lightbody for his very easy to replicate voice with the hint of Irish coming through – there’s no high notes to strain your throat at home.
Then straight after the chorus comes the first overthink – “I guess this is a love song after all. I think I might have lied before, I don’t recall.”
Check out all those qualifiers – he’s doing flips inside his head.
The first few tracks are home to the most dynamic sounds. Big lifts, dramatic drops, celestial pauses. It paints the picture of a happy and full life, but the darkness is always just a line away. From ‘The Beginning’…
“There is only you and me in this life” (yay)
“And I don’t want to f*** it up”(eek)
Or from ‘Everything Is Here And Nothing Is Lost’:
“Everything is here and nothing is lost!…” (yay)
“…as long as you don’t give up on us.” (eeek)
“We might be broken, might be bruised” (age taking it’s toll)
“I’m with you every time you choose.” (commitment is a choice)
There’s also recurring imagery of sky and water being perfect for each other, but never truly being able to connect, which shows the kind of maturity we’re dealing with here.
Gone are the youthful relationship questions of ‘do they like me?’ ‘is this love?’ ‘should we get together?’ The new album is all about adult relationship questions. They did get together, and it’s been pretty good, but not the great adventure their imaginations lead them to believe it would be. The explosive spark is gone, and now they are taking stock of the good, solid life they have built. Very mature, very mindful.
It’s the unifying theory of Snow Patrol: they go right up to the edge of darkness and release, but never really commit to it. If you ever wanted to know what Couples Therapy sounds like in music form, give this album a listen.
Quite literally in the case of ‘What If Nothing Breaks’ – in which Gary sings a transcript of a therapeutic conversation between Him and Her.
It’s one of the few songs where he breaks out of first person perspective, and dips into storytelling mode. The other being ‘Never Really Tire’- the moment the album finally topples over the edge into the ominous darkness (I for one love it when Snow Patrol actually goes there).
Another way maturity shows itself is the stripped back second half of the album. Younger, more vigorous versions of the band would have propulsive guitar rock songs up until a couple of slow sad piano ballads to round out an album. But over the last couple of releases Snow Patrol have seen the stripped back, slow and bare songs taking over album tracklists.
The new rhythm section could be the reason here. Longtime band members, bassist Paul Wilson and drummer Jonny Quinn, left the band before this album was recorded. Again, a very mature adult breakup to process for the three remaining members.
The classic Snow Patrol driving rhythm behind the palm muted guitars can still be found on a lot of tracks, but this album will be especially loved by fans of ‘Ballad Snow Patrol’ (‘This Is The Sound Of Your Voice’ could be the new ‘Set Fire To The Third Bar’, but there’s no sign of a new ‘Chasing Cars’ here though, for better or worse.)
The Forest Is The Path is mature in the best way. It’s music for adults who are figuring out what being an adult actually means.
If you’ve ever felt like you should be further along in life by now, or worried you might never reach your full potential, Snow Patrol is still the band for you. Gary Lightbody remains the Patron Saint of overthinking romantics.
