Brian Eno excited about Coldplay's fresh sound and new band combinations

Producer Brian Eno has given an insight into Coldplay's new album, revealing that it could be out by Christmas after all. Eno has already revealed that he is back working with Coldplay on their 5th album, but in an interview today with BBC 6Music he revealed that he has been working on different combinations of band members to get different sounds, and that it is still possible that Coldplay's new release will happen before the end of 2010.

This turnaround comes just days after BBC6 Music revealed that EMI had dismissed a release this year. More discussion on today's latest LP5 developments is at the Coldplay forum now. Here is the new online article, courtesy of 6Music:

This week saw Brian unveiled as guest artistic director of the 44th Brighton festival. It will see him heavily involved curating, presenting, lecturing and performing during the month of May. However, he told 6 Music he’ll still have time to help the band out: "I seem to be able to fit things in. I don't sleep that much."

Earlier this week Coldplay front man Chris Martin revealed to a Brazilian TV crew, he hoped the album would be out by Christmas, which Eno agrees could be possible: "I think it could be. It's quite different from anything they've done before I think, so far anyway. I don't know how it will end up being, but it's very fresh."

When Eno worked with the band in 2008 on Viva La Vida, he notoriously removed Chris Martin from the equation for the first few weeks to try a new way of working with them in the studio. He felt giving the rest of the band space to experiment without any vocals was key to widening the scope of their sound and the ability to explore all their options. This time round he says he will do the same, but also try out different band pairings to see what they come up with: "I think that if you have a group of four people, that's lots of possible combinations. You can have any one of them on their own, and you can have lots of couples within that four. A and B, A and C, A and D. I think every one of those is a unique musical entity that will produce something unique."

While he does admit Chris Martin is a very 'inspired and dominant personality' within the band, he says the aim is not just to stop him having a steer on things: "It's not rocket science, and it’s not Svengali-ism either. It's not some attempt to subvert the band, but just to see what other possibilities are lurking within them that might not come out within their normal working situations."

If you head to Coldplay's blog on their website, it makes it clear Brian has met his match, in four very willing participants: "A single song can exist in several very different forms all within the same day. The mood can go from elation at striking upon a new melody, to a complete loss of confidence and then back to "I can't wait 'til Brian hears this" all within a few hours. The rate of progress is astonishing."

Brian Eno working with Coldplay in the studio in January 2009