Long-running rock outfit Snow Patrol has shared a soaring and heartfelt new track from their forthcoming album The Forest Is The Path. Released today (Aug. 8), “All” begins by quickly clarifying itself as “not a love song,” but offers up plenty of raw emotion and real vulnerability.
“All I know is holding you is all I ever wanna know / But maybe I’m not brave enough to tell you so,” lead vocalist Gary Lightbody declares powerfully. “But I don’t have the strength to watch you go / Oh they say it’s better to have loved at least but reel it in / It wasn’t that I wasn’t feeling anything / More like feeling everything at once.”
“’All’ was written by Fraser T Smith and myself in late November of 2022,” Lightbody shared of the song in a statement. “This was almost exactly a year before we would ask Fraser to produce the album. The first time we recorded the album it didn’t work out and we would then ask Fraser to step into the producer’s chair in December of 2023 and he was a dream to work with. The first day of writing with him I walked into the studio and he had already got some music going. It was all very much “Hi, how are you, what about this?” and BAM we were off. I love [it] when that happens. [I’m] not really a fan of the small talk. I like big talk. And when you’re writing a song with someone you have to get to the big talk (or what’s the point), so why wait?
“My memory is that it all came together very quickly,” he continues. “I wrote a melody and some words while Fraser built the track and in a couple of hours, we had a really great rough version of the song. Then Johnny and Nathan put some extraordinary guitars, keys, and piano on it, not to mention incredible backing vocals and so many things which lifted the song massively. Another example of the three of us being locked in together on this record, it felt like something truly special was happening in the studio.”
“All” serves as the third single from The Forest Is The Path, which is set for release on Sept. 13 via Republic Records. Produced by track co-writer Smith, Snow Patrol’s upcoming LP is their first since 2018 and features 12 tracks, including the previously released “The Beginning” and “This Is The Sound Of Your Voice.”
Listen to “All” below:
The Forest Is The Path Track List:
1. “All”
2. “The Beginning”
3. “Everything’s Here And Nothing’s Lost”
4. “Your Heart Home”
5. “This Is The Sound Of Your Voice”
6. “Hold Me In The Fire”
7. “Years That Fall”
8. “Never Really Tire”
9. “These Lies”
10. “What If Nothing Breaks?”
11. “Talking About Hope”
12. “The Forest Is The Path”
