Coldplay ‘Mylo Xyloto’

Coldplay

‘Mylo Xyloto’

(Parlophone)

It’s been three
years since Coldplay’s 2008 effort ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His
Friends’. In the meantime Chris Martin and co. have once-more hooked up
with their buddy Brian Eno and producer Rik Simpson and knocked out
another record, including a duet with an R’n'B singer whom you’ve never
heard of. So let’s have a listen…

‘Mylo Xyloto’

The album ignites with a stylistic 45-second intro which
accommodates a cacophony of instrumentation, giving you just enough time
to study the title-track’s lettering and have a quick attempt at its
pronunciation. If you haven’t worked it out yet, it’s “My-lo Zy-low-toe”.

‘Hurts Like Heaven’

The incessant blip of a synthesizer underpins Chris Martin’s recognisable timbre over the casual strum of an acoustic guitar. Jonny Buckland’s reverb-laden electric guitars resound, as if lifted straight from U2’s The Edge, and transform momentarily into a liquid cascade to relieve you post-chorus.

‘Paradise’

Here’s the new single. “When she was just a girl/she expected the world/But it flew away from her reach/so she ran away in her sleep” coos Chrissy cutely. ‘Paradise’ employs a string section which wraps itself around the vocal melody throughout the mid-paced bounce which threatens to almost become a dance track.

‘Charlie Brown’

A four-to-the-floor bass drum helps ‘Charlie Brown’ explode into life, harking back to the stylings of previous offering ‘X&Y’ and doesn’t stray too far afield from 2008’s ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’. The eerie pitch-shifted vocal intro seeps into a chorus melody designed to the exact specifications required to fill a stadium. It’s all part of the Coldplay modus operandi and it will fail miserably to disappoint thousands.

‘Us Against The World’

The problem with Coldplay at this point in their career – gliding into their second decade, five albums in – is they could all take turns to fart into a walkie-talkie, commit it to record, and it would still go platinum both sides of the Atlantic. Understandably they don’t actually do that, but it’s certainly food for thought. Thus, while Martin’s proclamation that “It’s us against the world” is hardly the case, ‘Up Against The World”s surging chime and its heartfelt shimmer ensure that factual inaccuracy hardly matters a jot.

‘M.M.I.X / Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’

Chris Martin has claimed elsewhere that ‘Mylo Xyloto’ is a concept album that, according to the man himself, is “based on a love story with a happy ending”. Lead single ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’ melds swelling synths and Celtic guitar trills against the impish rhymes of “I turn the music up/I got my records on/From underneath the rubble/Sing a rebel song/Don’t want to see another generation drop/I’d rather be a comma than a full stop”.

‘Major Minus’

A scrappy delta-blues acoustic intro gives way to a muscular chug, allowing Mr. Buckland to flaunt his newly-found beefy tone. ‘Major Minus’ soon slips into a Elbow meets Radiohead groove, whilst Chris Martin’s falsetto in the middle eight briefly wanders into Noel Gallagher territory. In a momentary lapse, Coldplay dip their toes into the unchartered territory of ‘ballsy’, however fleeting the visit is.

‘U.F.O.’

A soft acoustic led ballad, accompanied by soft piano tinkers and emotive synth strings. The suspended open chords escort the vocal through melodic pleasantries and help the song climb to an affectionate climax. ‘U.F.O.’ is a short and sweet vignette.

‘Princess Of China’

There are so many fabulous adjectives you can hurl at Coldplay that it can actually become tiresome. Ludicrous is fast becoming our favourite. And defying all laws of convention, ‘Princess Of China’ is very much the epitome of this word. The staccato synth and quashed snare crack appear to be borrowed directly from a Euro-pop track, while the distortion soaked chorus adds some variation and distinction to Martin and Rihanna’s surprisingly complimentary harmonies. It doesn’t sound like ‘Fix You’ or ‘Clocks’, so fair play to them, I say.

‘Up In Flames’

A new-wave drum loop bonds ‘Up In Flames’ together, a staple that crops up throughout ‘Mylo Xyloto’, which certainly owes something to ‘Faith’-era The Cure. However, it’s only brief, as the track continues to reveal bold piano movements, soaring guitar and the kind of chorus harmonies you’d expect. It builds gradually in layers and size, which may have something to do with co-composer Brian Eno’s so-called ‘Enoxification’, which is pretentious for chin stroking, in case you were wondering.

‘A Hopeful Transmission’

A 30-second transition piece which incorporates a swooping string section, jangling percussion and a heartbeat bass thump that seamlessly conjoins with the next track, which is…

‘Don’t Let It Break Your Heart’
…classic Coldplay; the usual cymbal-belting, air-punching camaraderie that we’re used to. ‘Don’t Let It Break Your Heart’ will be high in their festival set lists.

‘Up With The Birds’

‘Up With The Birds’ artfully and unobtrusively entwines a Leonard Cohen sample into the album’s concluding track. The synthetic orchestra conduct themselves beneath Chris Martin’s solemn vocals before it becomes a breezy and wistful meander. People will make love to this album, and probably get married to it as well.

Read our full review of ‘Mylo Xyloto’ HERE.