Culture | Music Snow Patrol have announced their first album in six years and a 2025 European tour with a date at London’s O2 arena . The Northern Irish-Scottish band has confirmed its eighth LP, The Forest is the Path, will be released on September 13 ahead of the concerts in January and February next year. On Wednesday, fans got their first taste of the new album with its first single The Beginning , while snippets of other tracks were also teased on YouTube on Friday .

It is their first album and tour as a three-piece after the departures of long-time members Jonny Quinn and Paul Wilson last year. Frontman Gary Lightbody told the Standard last year that he went into the writing process having become sober and started living back in Bangor. “I’m back writing about love again, but in a different way,” he said.

“I like to think I have written about it in different ways over the years, it’s a subject that is oft used in music, but it’s a long time since I have been in a relationship, so writing about it from distance, from the distance of time, is something I’ve never done before, and that is one of the themes on this record. “Another is time itself, the passing of time, the collapsing of time, time happening, past, present, future all happening at once.” Pre-order is available from their official website and anyone who buys it before 5pm on Tuesday, June 4, will have the chance to access a pre-sale before the general sale begins on June 10.

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