Review - Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

Being one of the biggest bands in the world can’t be a terribly easy job (I can’t say I have a whole lot of experience with such matters), but Coldplay seem to do it very well. The British foursome has always had quite a lot to live up to, album after album, and somehow they always pull it off. It seems that each record is more (or about the same) regaled by critics than the last – they have to falter one of these days, right?

While that day may come, it is not today. ‘Mylo Xyloto’, though the worst titled of their five albums is quite possibly their most ambitious. Calling an album “Coldplay’s most ambitious” is not a phrase to be thrown around lightly though; consider for example the epicness that was 2008’s ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’. Remember their Record Of The Year-winning monster “Viva La Vida? Of course you do. ‘Mylo’ is in fact a collection of grandiose “Viva La Vida”-esque experiments gone terribly, terribly right.

Many of the songs pick up where “Viva La Vida” was leading the group before – soaring “oh”s that provide some of the strongest hooks in pop today (see: “Major Minus”, “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall”, and “Paradise”). ‘Mylo’ shows Coldplay stretching its arms into much more pop territory than many of their rock fans are used to, but somehow they still never lose their signature sound (and beautiful songwriting).

Where the drums kicked us up and made us move in their last album, the group plays with synths and dance beats, á la U2’s ‘Pop’ moments. It’s a risky move for one of the biggest rock groups in history (one that didn’t play out so well for U2), but one that Coldplay is in a position to do and do well.

‘Xyloto’ reminds us that Coldplay has never let us down, and shows us that they have no intention of doing such a thing any time soon.

Listen to: everything, especially “Princess of China (ft. Rihanna)”, as it will be their third single, and you’ll probably hear quite a bit of it.

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