Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto.
Coldplay is an extremely famous Pop Rock/Alternative band from Great Britain. These guys have released multiple of albums that have gone platinum, such as X&Y and Viva la Vida. To me, it’s kind of strange why there are so many people that hate Coldplay out there. X&Y was a great album, and Viva la Vida had some pretty alright tracks. I was really excited to listen to this album, I used to be a huge Coldplay fan in the past, and thought it was going to be a great experience that would bring back a lot of memories.
First thing I noticed about this album when I listened to it was that Coldplay stepped in a different direction when it came to production. You hear way more sugary electronics and a ton of bright synthesizers, while on their past albums, stereotypical production was used for very famous pop rock bands. It’s not really a good thing or a bad thing what they did with the production, it really depends what you’re looking for in this album. If you’re a huge Coldplay fan, then you’re probably going to really enjoy this album. I can really respect that Coldplay was trying to do something different with their sound, and that they’re starting to grow more. There’s still the driving guitars, the acoustic tracks, and Chris Martin is sounding just as good as ever before. The electronics and synthesizers make it more of an album that would be used to give you energy, it doesn’t have much of the more emotion provoking tracks that you would hear on previous albums, which my really disappoint some people.
The album starts off with the title track, which is also more of a small intro that becomes apart of the next track. The tune that you hear in this intro is something that becomes somewhat of a motif in this LP. It’s used throughout the album in many different songs. The second track, “Hurts Like Heaven”, is more of an example of what you’re going to hear on this album. Very bubbly, strong leading synthesizers, and catchy hooks. No real content to the song except for just a cheery tune. Same goes for Paradise, there really isn’t anything special about this song except for a catchy hook and a percussion rhythm that gets easily stuck in my head. I must say though, the lyrics aren’t terrible, but yet they’re so broad. It’s just talking about a girl that wants to see the world, and dreams about. I’d really find it to be a better song if everything about it wasn’t so basic. The next track, “Charlie Brown”, is one of the stronger points on the album. The drums and the bass aren’t easily forgotten on this track, and it definitely has that signature Coldplay sound that I was looking for. The guitar line to that song is extremely catchy, and I can’t really help but love it. The next track, “Us Against the World”, is also great, it’s one of the acoustic tracks that I was waiting for, with the emotional appeal that I really like about Coldplay. I just wish it didn’t sound very similar to many more of their songs. At first, I thought I accidentally pressed Til’ Kingdom Come, which is on X&Y. But still, the track is still good. You can kind of tell with the title of the song what it’s about. I was hoping for the streak of better songs to keep on going, but sadly, it stopped abruptly.
“M.M.I.X.” is the next track, which is more of an interlude to the next track, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall”, but it just seems so bland and unneeded. It honestly just sounded like a mediocre ambient pause between the two tracks, just unwanted filler. “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” just kind of made me cringe. It sounded like another mediocre pop song in the radio. The synthesizers were very generic sounding, and what made the track even worse, the lyrics. The lyrics about about kids dancing and music being a huge connector in the world, sharing emotions and other things, when honestly, it just sounded very corny and somewhat ridiculous. The next track, “Major Minus”. picks up the slack for the track before exponentially. The guitar is freaking amazing, and the echoed voice complements it so well. There really isn’t much more need to go into detail on that track. I love the next track, “U.F.O.”, it’s another emotion-packed acoustic track that made me fall in love with Coldplay in the first place. I just wish it was longer, it was only about two minutes or so. The very ending to this track was also very nice sounding, with the finger picking and the background sounds. A beautiful track to say the least.
One thing about this album that really bothered me were that the lyrics really lacked on it. It seemed Chris Martin was too happy and too occupied to write any good lyrics, and decided to care more about the sound. It seems his thought process was, “I don’t wanna write anything, let’s just all dance and yell and have a good time!” It overall made the album lack. There was a ton of wasted potential where I thought that Chris’ songwriting techniques could have really picked up some of the slack on this album.
The rest of the album sadly went really downhill, really fast. “Princess of China” was just awful, I was not a fan of the Rihanna collaboration at all, and the hook almost made me forget I was listening to a Coldplay record. Up in Flames was a really odd sounding piano ballad for me, once again almost making me forget I was listening to a Coldplay record. Chris Martin’s voice really didn’t complement the track at all. The three final tracks were honestly extremely forgettable. I was dissapointed especially with the closer, “Up With the Birds”. If they used “U.F.O.” or “Us Against the World” as the albums closer, it would’ve made the album feel more complete to me, but sadly it just kind of left off on a bad note. The acoustic jam at the end just wasn’t doing anything for me, and Chris’s falsetto wasn’t either.
To me, this album wasn’t that great. Sometimes, I might be able to casually enjoy some of the tracks, but that’s about it. Overall, this album gets a 60%, kind of a disappointing album from Coldplay.
What do you guys think I should review next? Also, feedback is highly appreciated!
