Over the course of three hit albums, Coldplay have proved they’re masters of manipulative techniques to steal the hearts of listeners. Some of the band’s latest calculated attempts to fuse multiple ideas together on a single song (and thus hark back to past masters) might as well be titled Bohemian Android, but what Chris Martin has often forgotten is that there’s a big difference between an epic song and a song which merely utilises epic sounds.
Much has been made of both Coldplay’s new chapter and the involvement of Brian Eno on their ludicrously named fourth album, but both have been vastly overstated. Despite reviewers lauding Eno’s apparent contributions to the soundscapes and Krautrock progressions of Viva La Vida…, the comments have been quickly supplemented by denunciations of 2005’s X&Y – a colossal album that, absurdly enough, was big on Krautrock progressions and soundscapes.
While on the surface the music offers none of the meek bed-wetter introspection of debut Parachutes, Chris Martin’s lyrics suggest he still flits like a bipolar butterfly between moments of immense self-belief (his Bono act reaches its peak on the band’s new iPod commercial) and a fear of failure.
On some tunes, Coldplay have deliberately scuttled expectation (rising instrumental opener Life In Technicolour was stripped of lyrics and bent out of shape after studio suggestions it was an obvious single), but the populist football chant quality of Lost!, the strings of Yes and the tender lullaby moments of Death And All His Friends remain easily accessible.
With Eno on hand, Coldplay think this is their Unforgettable Fire. When the music and atmosphere come together on tracks such as Cemeteries Of London and Violet Hill, you’d be foolish to disagree.
They didn’t get to Heaven, but they made it close.
Scott McLennan