HOWZAT

Lee and the band have been working together since Final Straw. Indeed, the producer is a vital part of Snow Patrol’s success, which has in turn made him one of the most in-demand producers — he has worked with U2, Editors, Bloc Party and Weezer, and was at the helm of REM’s return-to-form Accelerate. “He’s a marvel. I’m not 100% sure what we would do without him. I’m not even 50% sure what we would do without him,” Lightbody says. “He’s a maverick — it’s like being in the studio with Brian Eno and Eddie Izzard combined. He’s experimental, but grounded. That’s a combination you don’t find very often. And he can play every instrument.”

It was Lee who suggested the band begin recording A Hundred Million Suns at Grouse Lodge studios, in the Irish countryside, then move to Hansa, in Berlin, where Bowie recorded Heroes and U2 made Achtung Baby.

“There’s an amazing spirit and energy in the place still, even though it’s probably had five or six coats of paint since Bowie’s day,” Lightbody says. “After being seven weeks in the countryside in Ireland, it was quite a kick to the synapses to be suddenly in the middle of Berlin. When we heard traffic noise and saw neon it was inspirational. The album took a strange and wonderful turn at that point.”

You can hear the strange and wonderful influence of the studio on tracks that take Snow Patrol into new areas: the Golden Floor, with its echoes of Peter Gabriel; the ambitious three-part closer, the Lightning Strike; and the atypically sharp-edged Engines, which overtly references the studio’s heritage with musical nods to Bowie’s V2 Schneider and U2’s The Fly.

The first single, Take Back the City (to be released on October 13), is more urgent than the band’s big hits, powered by tightly wound riffs played by the lead guitarist, Nathan Connolly. The spiky solo and chunky chord work were inspired by old Tom Petty and Cars records. “We’re normally inspired by what’s happening right now, but it’s good sometimes to luxuriate in the past,” Lightbody says.

The future for Snow Patrol holds at least 18 months of touring their new album, making it hard to see where Lightbody is going to find time for his nascent side project with Lee, which they’ve called Listen... Tanks! So far, only one track has been heard, a slow, strange song called Black and Silver, but Lightbody talks confidently of finishing an album together. “Mind you, since we did that, Sam Sparro brought out Black and Gold,” he says. “That’s one notch up from us. Maybe we’ll have to rename it Black and Platinum.”

The truth is Lightbody has no need to be so competitive over his side projects when his main band is all set to conquer the world.

A Hundred Million Suns is released on October 27

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