Martin sings nakedly about how breakups can feel like the end of the world, or maybe it’s about the actual end of the world. It’s followed by “Up in Flames,” a minimalist slow jam.
It’s a partnership that probably came together over champagne brunch at Jay-Z’s, but its synth-fuzz groove is offhandedly seductive. “Princess of China” is a ballad about loss and regret, co-starring Rihanna. Oddly enough, the best moments are darker ones. By the time he croons, “Don’t let it break your heart!” over “Where the Streets Have No Name”-style guitar sparkle near the album’s end, you can’t help but think he’s an inspiration peddler who believes what he’s belting. Mylo Xyloto suggests he’s fully embraced his role as a not-terribly-cool guy who’s good at preaching perseverance, in a voice that’s warm and milky like afternoon tea. But where that album sometimes seemed like a self-conscious attempt to diversify their sound, with a world-music vibe and U2-style sound effects, this time Coldplay have integrated the “Enoxification” (as they call it) into their own down-the-middle core: Check out the cascading choral vocals that augment Martin’s soaring refrain on “Paradise.” Prominent elements prop up the sonic cathedrals: Jonny Buckland’s guitar, which is riffier and more muscular than ever, and Euro-house synths that wouldn’t sound out of place at a nightclub in Ibiza.Įxplicit political statements aren’t really Martin’s thing he’s in the uplift business. It’s a bear-hug record for a bear-market world.Īided again by Brian Eno, Coldplay are still dabbling in the kind of cool-weird artiness they truly went for on 2008’s Viva La Vida. On Mylo Xyloto, the choruses are bigger, the textures grander, the optimism more optimistic.
and U2 made Achtung Baby – so it comes as no surprise they’d want a zeitgeist-y, big-statement album of their own. But Coldplay’s fifth album – and most ambitious yet – suggests Martin cares too much not to at least try to help.Ĭoldplay recently entered their second decade together – the same point Springsteen made Born in the U.S.A. A cratering economy, riots from Tahrir to Tottenham, the prolonged ubiquity of the Kardashians – these are things that can’t be solved with a lullaby, even from the biggest band to emerge in the 21st century.
In the three years since Coldplay’s last album, the world’s problems have gotten a little more urgent.
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