Pitchfork

Between releasing their fourth full-length, Eyes Open, and having to cancel tour dates twice this year due to injuries and ailments, Snow Patrol have had an up-and-down year. Gary Lightbody and Co. are making up for it by foisting plenty of new material on us: an EP, a charity record, a single, a bunch of UK tour dates, and even a little bit of non-fiction writing.

The EP is the band's own AOL Sessions, a digital release featuring live versions of four Snow Patrol songs and a cover of one Bright Eyes song ("You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.") that you may purchase from iTunes right now.

For the charity record, Lightbody teamed up with Lisa Hannigan-- a vocalist in Damien Rice's band-- to sing a song written by Bell X1's Paul Noonan called "Some Surprise". The track will appear on The Cake Sale, a nine-song album by a collective of musicians of the same name. Other contributors to the record include Rice, the Cardigans' Nina Persson, the Thrills, Josh Ritter, the Divine Comedy, and Gemma Hayes. Oxfam Records will release The Cake Sale in Ireland on November 3, and proceeds will go toward Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign and overseas program work.

Snow Patrol treat UK denizens to the third single from Eyes Open, "Set the Fire to the Third Bar", on November 13 in CD and seven-inch formats. The song features guest vocals from Martha Wainwright, and each format boasts a different live cut on the B-side.

Lightbody also contributed a non-fiction piece to a book called Extended Play, which, according to a press release, "examines the relationship in fiction and non-fiction between music and literature." Blondie's Chris Stein, Mercury Rev's Sean Mackowiak (aka Grasshopper), and the Stranglers' Jean-Jacques Burnel also contributed non-fiction to the book, which Elastic Press will release in November.

Finally, Snow Patrol kick off a late fall tour of the UK in Bournemouth, England on November 26 after performing at the American Music Awards on November 21. They finish in December, right before the holidays, then pick back up in February with four dates in Japan.

AOL Sessions tracklist:

01 Chasing Cars (live)
02 You're All I Have (live)
03 Hands Open (live)
04 Run (live)
05 You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. (Bright Eyes cover, live)

Dates:

11-26 Bournemouth, England - Bournemouth International Centre
11-28 Birmingham, England - NIA
11-29 Manchester, England - Manchester Evening News Arena
11-30 Newcastle, England - Metro Radio Arena
12-14 Manchester, England - G-MEX
12-15 Manchester, England - G-MEX
12-16 Glasgow, Scotland - SECC
12-18 London, England - Wembley Arena
12-19 London, England - Wembley Arena
12-21 Belfast, Northern Ireland - Odyssey
12-22 Dublin, Ireland - The Point
12-23 Dublin, Ireland - The Point
02-01 Tokyo, Japan - Liquid Room
02-02 Tokyo, Japan - Liquid Room
02-04 Nagoya, Japan - Club Quattro
02-05 Osaka, Japan - Club Quattro