THIS WEEK’S CD RELEASES

Snow Patrol Wildness Polydor/Republic, out Fri

Whether or not Wildness fires Snow Patrol back to their commercial peak, songs like Life On Earth

confirm Gary Lightbody as a master of a particular searching, melancholy mood. His depression struggles and his father’s dementia inform a set of songs that are at their best at their quietest.

Ray LaMontagne Part Of The Light RCA, out now

Looking like the kind of man who rides into town and quietly sorts everything out, and sounding like a Seventies singer-songwriter four decades out of time, Ray LaMontagne won’t let you down. Folky and a little bit psychedelic, his seventh album bristles with vitality.

Ash Islands Infectious, out now

Belfast trio Ash’s natural pop instinct is still with them on their seventh album, Islands. Confessions In

The Pool flirts with synthy pop, but a host of muscular, melodic tunes stray relatively little from the trusted Ramones-meet-Beach Boys formula.