Snow Patrol have just rolled out an incredibly depressing music video in support of their latest heartbreak ballad "New York," the third single from the Northern Irish-Scottish alternative rock group's sixth studio album, "Fallen Empires." With its sweeping guitar-rock symphonies and pounding electronic beats, "Fallen Empires" could've been called 14 Songs About 14 Different Types of Melancholy. Break-ups, childhood nostalgia, even the loneliness of air travel are covered."New York," is a stark, heartbreaking ballad that pares the band down to just singer Lightbody's voice and plaintive piano accompaniment. The song isn't just a fictional tale. Lightbody explained the story behind this piano ballad: "I always try to write about personal experiences, and 'New York' is about a girl I was seeing over there. We both had strong feelings for one another, but we were never in the same place at the same time. It's about missed opportunities."
"New York" sees Snow Patrol at their most moody and introspective and takes an almost tortuously long time to get going. Touching on the bands roots, it ranges from minimal acoustic strokes, beautifully poetic lyrics, to rousing stadium-splitting blasts of horn. It's an anthem of achievement, an affirmation of life, a calling on everything that the Irish alt-rockers' existence has always been building towards. And just like the album itself, "New York" states plainly, "We're Snow Patrol, we're still here, and we're still relevant."
Directed by Brett Simon, the sad clip, is the perfect way to capture that feeling, focuses on a heartbroken Lightbody trying to drink away his pain as he sitting alone in a crowded bar, drowning his sorrows in booze and wallowing in his depression while drowning his drink and singing the piano ballad. People around him are chattering with one another. Ignoring all the dancing and smiling faces around him, the frontman stares into space. His lip-synching is even half-hearted, as he's lost in thought about a relationship that didn't work out. The emotional video is simple but powerful.
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