Clash Music Review - 8/10

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Warm, permeable and um, danceable

 

Though its title may suggest an inflated superiority complex and its creation a lesson in analytical musical intellectualism, Coldplay’s fifth album is curiously a warm, permeable and, um, danceable hit.

 

Brian Eno is back on board as producer, but any gravitas he may bring to the table is masterfully offset by the appearance of farmer-goading hip-hop starlet Rihanna - such is the flippancy Coldplay can afford to play with as stadium lords. They have advanced their experiments in electronic music and shiny sonic wizardry (or “Enoxification”, they humbly credit), but it hasn’t diminished their knack for crafting those affecting anthems we’ve come to expect.

 

Bound by a very loose ‘love story’ concept, the songs within radiate a positivity that is as contagious as it is uplifting. The shimmering ‘Hurts Like Heaven’ - galvanized by a relentless motorik pulse - is a defiant assertion of commitment, while ‘Paradise’ ushers low-end Gary Numan-ish synths into a slow-building choral climax that will unite the live hordes next summer. Talking of synths, ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’ is built on a Euro-riff that’s already bothering dance floors, while Riri’s appearance on ‘Princess Of China’ becomes a pop sparkle amid dark, fuzzy basslines.

 

Coldplay’s electronic excursions may be more cerebral and less embroiled than those of Thom Yorke’s continued influence on Radiohead, but their progress is to be applauded, for this is an excellent album with depths unexplainable within this word count.

 

8/10

 

 

http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/coldplay-mylo-xyloto

[Technicolour TX]

Excellent !!!!

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Excellent !!!!

 

Good to hear coming from Clash as well. They're a good music website.