One of the world’s most renowned modern bands Coldplay return with their fifth studio album Mylo Xyloto. Before the album’s release the band had indicated their latest album would be “more acoustic” than its predecessor Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends and have delivered on this promise, but only when compared against that album. Mylo Xyloto varies between two type of tracks: acoustic guitar based songs and those with overriding synthesisers and slow beats. The album is considerably less piano based than Coldplay’s previous work, despite the instrument being the basis of some of their most acclaimed tracks.
Mylo Xyloto is a concept album based on a love story with a happy ending according to Chris Martin. Because of this, the album is structured very well and is broken up by three tracks under a minute. The album, track wise, is Coldplay’s longest release yet.
The first non-instrumental track “Hurts Like Heaven” is the most upbeat song on the album, or perhaps in Coldplay’s entire career. The song starts at full speed with no introduction and is complimented by an electronic backing riff. It’s a disappointing opener and one of the albums more lacklustre tracks.
Fortunately, the second single from the album “Paradise” appears third and rescues Mylo Xyloto from an early death. The song builds up to a climatic chorus laden with a slow beat. Coldplay tracks that switch between large portions of instrumental music and lyrics tend to be their most acclaimed, and “Paradise” continues along this trend. Similarly to their prior material, the versus are written metaphorically and poetically, whereas the chorus is simple and repetitive. Perhaps the juxtaposition of Coldplay’s versus and choruses is the reason the band is largely able to please both pop music fans and critics.
“Us Against The World” opens on a riff before being stripped back to Martin’s voice and an acoustic guitar. The song is much more impressive in its acoustic moments, and would have been better off without the disjointed introduction.
First single from the album “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall” is a classic example of a commercial Coldplay song. It’s the return of their trademark uplifting songs such as “Yellow” and “Viva La Vida” that have become a defining feature of the group. Lyrically, it’s among the least impressive on the album, but so was “Yellow” on Parachutes.
“U.F.O” is a simplistic and beautiful acoustic track. It is short in length and lyrics, but its message is elegiac and relatable. It is hear we hear remnants of earlier albums such as A Rush Of Blood To The Head. Coldplay are at their best when producing stripped back songs such as this.
“Princess of China” sounds more like a Rihanna track than Coldplay, most likely due to the RNB singer being featured in the song. I normally don’t like to write in the first person, and if I was a better writer I wouldn’t, but I simply don’t like this song.
The album concludes with “Up With The Birds”; a track that seemingly conjoins the two personalities of Mylo Xyloto The track begins sounding very reminiscent of “Amsterdam” and sees a short lived return of the piano to compliment Martin’s voice.
It is only the acoustic side of Mylo Xyloto that is worthy of acclaim, with the remaining tracks being too electronic influenced. The album lacks the depth of instruments of previous releases, making each track sound less distinct from one another. To be fair, Mylo Xyloto is designed that way due to its conceptual basis, however, it rids the band of its anthem like songs that resonate with listeners. I say, bring back the piano.
Review score: 6/10
