Wildness (album)
Wildness is the seventh studio album by Northern Irish-Scottish rock band Snow Patrol. The album was released on 25 May 2018. It is their first album with Johnny McDaid as a full member of the band, after his involvement as a guest musician and songwriter on Fallen Empires[2] and participation in its tour.[3]
Wildness | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 25 May 2018 | |||
Recorded | 2016–2017 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 44:39 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Producer | Jacknife Lee | |||
Snow Patrol chronology | ||||
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Singles from Wildness | ||||
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Background and development
In an interview with NME in 2012, Gary Lightbody said that he had to overcome a bout of writer's block and that the songs written for the new album were scrapped before being replaced by new "mind-boggling" material.[4] The follow-up to 2011's Fallen Empires was initially due for release in 2016,[5] and subsequently summer 2017.[6] In late January 2018, the title and release date were officially announced.[7]
Promotion
"Don't Give In" was released as the first single for Wildness on 21 March 2018. "Life on Earth" was released as the second single from the album on 12 April 2018. "What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get?" was released as the third single on 2 May 2018. "Empress" was released as the fourth single on 8 May 2018.[8]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Drowned in Sound | |
The Independent | |
Paste | 7.9/10[12] |
Pitchfork | 4.8/10 |
Q | |
Under the Radar | 3.5/10[14] |
At review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a weighted average score of 64 based on 9 reviews.[15] Pitchfork gave the album a 4.8 out of 10, calling it "Their most personal album deals in matters of literal life and death".[16]
Commercial performance
After an extremely close chart race, the album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart on sales of 39,118, less than 1,000 sales behind The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.[17]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Gary Lightbody; all music is composed by Snow Patrol and Jacknife Lee, except "Life and Death" by Snow Patrol, Lee, Holger Czukay, Irmin Schmidt, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Life on Earth" | 5:22 |
2. | "Don't Give In" | 3:59 |
3. | "Heal Me" | 4:01 |
4. | "Empress" | 4:29 |
5. | "A Dark Switch" | 4:18 |
6. | "What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get?" | 3:49 |
7. | "A Youth Written in Fire" | 4:08 |
8. | "Soon" | 4:20 |
9. | "Wild Horses" | 4:38 |
10. | "Life and Death" | 5:35 |
Total length: | 44:39 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
11. | "Life on Earth" (alternate version) | 4:41 |
12. | "Don't Give In" (alternate version) | 3:37 |
13. | "Heal Me" (alternate version) | 4:33 |
14. | "What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get?" (alternate version) | 4:16 |
15. | "Soon" (alternate version) | 3:32 |
Total length: | 65:18 |
Personnel
Snow Patrol
- Gary Lightbody – lead vocals, guitar (except tracks 6 and 15), additional programming (track 7), backing vocals (tracks 11, 12 and 14)
- Nathan Connolly – guitar (except tracks 6 and 15), backing vocals (except tracks 1, 6, 8 and 15)
- Paul Wilson – bass (except tracks 6, 11–15)
- Jonny Quinn – drums (except tracks 6, 11–15)
- Johnny McDaid – piano (tracks 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14), backing vocals (except tracks 1, 6, 8, 10 and 15), keyboards (tracks 1, 11-15), guitar (tracks 3, 11–14), programming (tracks 11–15), orchestral arrangement (tracks 11-15)
Additional personnel
- Jacknife Lee – guitar (except tracks 6, 11–15), keyboards (except tracks 6, 11–15), programming (except tracks 6, 11-15), backing vocals (tracks 3, 4, 9 and 10), strings arrangement (track 5 and 8), bass (track 9)
- Davide Rossi – strings arrangement and strings quartet (tracks 1, 5 and 8)
- Saran Davies – cello (tracks 11-15)
- Ben Hulme – French horn (tracks 11, 14 and 15)
- Alexandra Ridout – trumpet (track 12), flugelhorn (tracks 13–15)
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI)[36] | Gold | 100,000 |
*sales figures based on certification alone |
References
- Hanna, Nathan (19 March 2018). "Snow Patrol new single Don't Give In released date revealed". Belfast Live. MGN Limited. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
- "Snow Patrol Track-By-Track Video: 'Fallen Empires'". Billboard. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- "Johnny McDaid". Threee. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- Stevens, Jenny (27 June 2012). "Snow Patrol scrap new album sessions". NME. Time Inc. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- "Twitter Q&A – new Snow Patrol Music next year ...'". Twitter.com. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- Jones, Damian (27 March 2017). "Snow Patrol announce comeback album plans". NME. Time Inc. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- "Snow Patrol tease fans with video to announce new album release date". Belfast Telegraph. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- Vallejo-Lopez, Abdiel (12 April 2018). "Listen to Snow Patrol's Out-of-This-World New Single, "Life on Earth"". Paste. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- "Wildness - Snow Patrol - Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
- Linnell, Harriet (24 May 2018). "Album Review: Snow Patrol - Wildness". Drowned in Sound.
- "Chvrches, Snow Patrol, Jenny Hval, Artificial Pleasure and more – this week's albums, reviewed". The Independent.
- Salmon, Ben (31 May 2018). "Snow Patrol: Wildness Review". Paste. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- "Wildness by Snow Patrol Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic.
- "Wildness". www.undertheradarmag.com.
- "Reviews for Wildness by Snow Patrol". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
- "Snow Patrol: Wildness Album Review - Pitchfork". pitchfork.com.
- Jones, Alan (1 June 2018). "Charts analysis: Greatest Showman holds on at albums summit". Music Week. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- "Australiancharts.com – Snow Patrol – Wildness". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
- "Austriancharts.at – Snow Patrol – Wildness" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- "Ultratop.be – Snow Patrol – Wildness" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- "Ultratop.be – Snow Patrol – Wildness" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- "Snow Patrol Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201822 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- "Dutchcharts.nl – Snow Patrol – Wildness" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- "Offiziellecharts.de – Snow Patrol – Wildness" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- "Irish Albums Chart: 1 June 2018". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
- "NZ Heatseeker Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
- "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 22: del 25.5.2018 al 31.5.2018" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- "Swisscharts.com – Snow Patrol – Wildness". Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
- "Snow Patrol Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- "Jaaroverzichten 2018". Ultratop. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- "Rapports Annuels 2018". Ultratop. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2018". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- "British album certifications – Snow Patrol – Wildness". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 23 December 2018. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Wildness in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.