‘The Forest is the Path’ is an album rooted in reflection, introspection and interrogation. One of its key building blocks, says Gary Lightbody – lead singer of Snow Patrol – was the idea of love from a distance. “I haven’t been in a relationship for a very long time, 10 years or more, so love from a distance to me meant the way a relationship sits in your memory from a distance of, say, 10 years. That’s not something I’d previously thought about as a way to write about love. So it’s like, when you’re in love, you’re standing in the lobby of the Empire State Building. When you’ve broken up with that person, you’re out in the street. You can still see the building, but you’re not in there anymore. And when it’s 10 years later, now you’re standing in Brooklyn looking at the Manhattan skyline.”

It’s a theme addressed unblinkingly and unflinchingly on lead single ‘The Beginning’. “That’s kind of a summing up of this album,” Gary continues. “It’s a way of looking at various mistakes, any pain I may have caused, from a place where nothing is hurting anymore, except the memory when you pull it back into your mind. The memory itself is full of hurt but everything around it isn’t. You’re holding in your hand this ball of fire, but now you’ve got gloves on.”