Snow Patrol - Wilderness

Snow Patrol
Wilderness
2018
Spotify

There was something about Snow Patrol that felt emotionally raw from the moment you heard it. Their biggest hit to date "Chasing Cars" pulled every ounce of feeling from the bottom of their souls and laid it bare on the floor, something the band has struggled to do ever since. It's been seven years since their last album and their memory seems to be lodged more in the minds of the Grey's Anatomy viewers than the pop music public. That is why this new album Wilderness really needed to be something big and bold. The band swings for it hear, detailing lives of loss, love and everything else laid pretty emotionally bare. The problem is none of it really connects anymore. The music on Wilderness is uneventful there were more than a few points that I had to almost wake myself up especially during "What if This is All the Love You Ever Get?"; a song that is not only a snooze but also so overblown emotionally it feels almost off putting. There are so many moments like that on this album, where they swing really hard but end up making music that would be sleep inducing in most elevators. You keep waiting for something of an edge or some kind of raw feeling but instead you get platitudes and generic conclusions with music that is no where near anything exciting. A rare synth bang on "A Youth Written in Fire" feels like it gives the song a bit of depth, but only for the briefest of moments.

"Soon" tries to create a bigger moment with distant strings and a pounding drum beat but all the tension is wasted as the beat drops out into nothing. "Wild Horses" does give you a bit of pace change up and it actually works pretty well giving you this new dimension to the record. yet this is only a brief moment amongst many other snoozers that never quite cut the mustard. It's almost like everything is just to heavy for Snow Patrol, their lives, their music, all of it comes across as overwrought and overblown. Even when the last track "Life and Death" goes into it's big breakdown at the end it arrives with such little fanfare that it's hard to even care when it comes around. There just is not enough to get excited about on this album or enough to make up for what a slog it is. For a band that was heralded for simple words with deep emotional meaning this album's lyric sheet has to be a mile long with turns of phrase and flowery language, none of it really fits. This is just a real bumpy record from a band who hasn't quite figured it out yet, maybe it's too late now.

3.0 out of 10