Snow Patrol 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. On 28 January 2018, the band's social media announced the upcoming release of their seventh studio album, entitled "Wildness", which was released on 25 May 2018. The promotional video simply showed lead singer Gary Lightbody floating on a raft with a piano and seemingly trying to phone someone who is engaged. The success of Snow Patrol has influenced the thriving Belfast music scene positively. This includes Lightbody, who returned to the city and now lives there.
Gary Lightbody as they would have subsequently taken that success for granted. Lightbody is known to keep his personal life private. Lightbody is passionate about football, is a supporter of Manchester United and has been known to support both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland national football teams. This is supported by the song "Lifening", in which he sings the lyrics "Ireland in the World Cup, either North or South". He is a fan of the , particularly Wolverine, and owns a stack of comics. He bought several comics as a kid and has some that he has never opened, hoping