I’m not convinced I like the new Coldplay album, despite almost everyone saying I should. Sure, X&Y (EMI) has what everybody was hoping for: large helpings of Chris Martin’s oh-so-soothing voice drifting away on those trademark sweeping Coldplay chill-rock melodies and piano notes — but somehow it’s just not all that thrilling anymore.
Since Coldplay first shot to fame three years ago, other bands have been influenced by their sound, with some putting it to good use (think Keane, for example). Now Coldplay are back, but it’s all been done before — by others.
X&Y opens with Square One (how clever), with Martin assuring us ‘you’re in control†as the beat kicks in. ‘Somebody [is] listening to what you say … it doesn’t matter who you are,†he says, motivationally, because Coldplay’s lyrics should be deep and meaningful. What If and Fix You are wistfully philosophic about life and love with, of course, those famous piano notes.
White Shadows is typical Coldplay ambient rock, slowly building into a lovely soundscape. As is Talk. As is the title track, and Low, and The Hardest Part. Even the huge single, Speed of Sound, beautiful as it sounds, is just Clocks repackaged.
X&Y is a bestseller, no doubt, and it will probably satisfy fans hoping for the familiar as well as the handful of people on the planet who don’t yet know Coldplay.
Rumour has it that Martin stayed up nights for several months working on this album. It’s really not obvious what took him so long. Maybe he should have tried to push Coldplay’s music ever so slightly in a more adventurous direction. Now that I would have liked to hear.