Ironically the only thing that is consistent about Coldplay is their ability to reinvent themselves with every LP they craft. Well that and their as-of-yet unblemished record of never releasing a duff album.
Reassuringly this, their latest offering, is no exception to either of these rules. Here they have shifted into their most unique guise yet – sprinting away from their French revolutionary phase of Viva La Vida and leaping into a bold multicoloured ambience.
The sound is fresh and contemporary, and is their most electronically influenced album to date. However it shies away from the current trend of bass-heavy and distorted electronica and instead focuses purely on clean, polished synths. It maintains a bubbly innocence throughout, his playful and laid back ambience is always audible, even in the faster and more guitar driven songs.
Coldplay’s perceived drawback for many years has been Chris Martin’s lyrics, even he conceded to this in a recent interview with NME when he admitted that “I know our lyrics are a bit shit…” Although very few of his words have impacted on me I wouldn’t go as far as to call them shit. Even if they are the weakest part of Coldplay, there is at least an attempt at a concept here, (a tale of two lovers, “Mylo and Xyloto” and their involvement in a rebellious gang in a dystopian future) and at times can be very cohesive.
So have they pulled off another rip-roaring success? Yes and no. Whilst it is not their best album, it undeniably contains some of the best material they’ve ever written. There are songs on here that are simply astonishing, to the degree that you find you can quite comfortably forgive the flatter songs if it means you get to listen to “Paradise”. The thing with Coldplay is when they get it right, they outplay every other band out there, and this album certainly contains more rights than wrongs.