Coldplay: 'Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends'

 

After releasing an album in 2005 (X&Y) that didn't quite match the growth between its two predecessors, Coldplay took a new approach in the recording studio for its latest.

 

Adventurous electronic producer Brian Eno was brought onboard, and the result is a stunning expansion of the British band's sonic landscape.

 

Strings, bells, congas, churchlike organ, guitar passages that barely sound like guitar, a piano made to mimic a harpsichord, synthesizers - all of these sounds fade in and out of this CD's songs, many of which have multiple movements and changes in rhythm.

 

Singer-pianist Chris Martin and his three bandmates seem to have abandoned concerns about recording at least a track or two that could hypnotize radio the way 2002's Grammy-wining single, Clocks, did.

 

It's not that Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion aren't still writing hummable melodies - there are plenty here. But Eno's presence guarantees that much of the CD is far more layered and complex than basic rock-radio fare.

 

The debut single, Violet Hill, of course, is getting plenty of airplay because the world has been waiting three years for a new Coldplay song.

 

But even Violet Hill starts with 35 seconds of ambient synthesizer and strings before Martin's voice and his trusty piano drop in. The track then plods along with gritty guitar chords and interwoven leads by Buckland combining with Martin's storytelling to give things a cinematic feel. It ends with a quiet 30-second bit featuring just Martin and his piano, all in the space of three minutes and 30 seconds, hardly a recipe for a hit single.

 

The haunting Cemeteries of London takes a full 45 seconds to get moving, with a syncopated rhythms and handclaps giving it a Spanish edge. The song later shifts gears to fade out with atmospheric processed guitar and gentle piano.

 

Rich organ and more handclaps, as well as congas, power Lost! One of Buckland's many piercing but economical leads takes over the second half of the song before quiet organ closes things.

 

The most ambitious and diverse track is the seven-minute Yes, which moves from strings, to acoustic guitar to deep vocals by Martin to more Eastern-flavored strings to heavy rock chords to processed guitar.

 

"God only knows, I'm trying my best / But I'm just so tired of this loneliness," Martin sings in the wistful style that he has mastered through the years.

 

Four minutes into Yes, a pause signals a final movement built on ringing guitar and surreal vocals.

 

The title track (the CD's second single) starts with brisk strings and vocals by Martin that are reminiscent of the band's earlier work: "I used to roll the dice, feel the fear in my enemy's eyes / Listen as the crowd would sing, now the old king is dead."

 

As deep bass and chimes are added to further expand the instrumentation, it's clear just how far Eno and eight years of experience in the studio have taken this band.

 

This album ends up covering a lot of ground, and it can't be pigeonholed.

 

Martin and his band have earned the right to stretch as far as their considerable talents can take them.

 

This more mature and complex sound should quiet some of the group's critics while rewarding longtime fans with new territory to explore.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/music/articles/2008/06/12/20080612cdspinscoldplay.html

great review!