Mylo Xyloto doesn't revolve around Coldplay's usual midtempo, earworm piano ballads. Collaboration also seems to be a new tactic, as the group features reigning pop diva Rihanna in "Princess of China." I like how this record mixes ginormous pop spectacle with Coldplay's knack for melody and Eno's knack for sonic nuance - qualities you rarely hear in the same package.Ĭoldplay, of course, wants to appeal to everybody - an impulse that reaches hilarious new heights in "Hurts Like Heaven," which crams together caffeinated dance-rock beats, acoustic strumming, multiple flavors of guitar solos, uplifting choruses and a robo-style vocal breakdown. I can't really imagine Martin "taking a car downtown where the lost boys meet," as he sings in "Charlie Brown," but I like that Bruce Springsteen parking-lot drama. Martin's lyrics are back on topic: love, sorrow, generically empathic emotional struggle. With Coldplay's new album, Mylo Xyloto, Eno is back onboard - more as a fifth band member, it seems, than a producer. Eno made Viva La Vida sound great, even if singer-songwriter Chris Martin's war-themed sing-alongs dodged the opportunity to actually say something. On its last album, Coldplay wisely enlisted Brian Eno, famous for his work with Talking Heads and Coldplay's role-models-turned-rivals U2. But for a group as patently inoffensive as Coldplay, it's earned an impressive number of "haters." Many rock fans dismiss its music as milquetoast, and even The New York Times once called Coldplay " the most insufferable band of the decade." Me? I give the group credit for writing excellent, arena-scale power ballads, one of which was covered recently by Willie Nelson in a Chipotle campaign. In a music world commercially dominated by pop singers, rappers and country artists, Coldplay is one of the rare modern superstar acts that actually is a rock band. Coldplay's new album, Mylo Xyloto, is out this week.
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