Timbaland To Co-Produce With Eno For Next Coldplay Album

Coldplay will meet with superproducer Timbaland to talk about producing their new record

Coldplay is considering joining forces with superproducer Timbaland on their next album, EW has exclusively learned.

''It would give me a new energy; it would take me to a whole other place,'' Timbaland told EW on Tuesday. ''[Coldplay] are so talented, it would help me as a person. Working with them would be great. It's about the music — not clothes or jewelry, just pure passion for music.''

Monique Idlett, who handles publicity for Timbaland's Mosley Music Group, told EW that Timbaland plans to meet with the band in April to discuss their follow-up to 2005's triple-platinum X&Y. Idlett said initial conversations have suggested that Timbaland might produce a substantial part of the new album.

The producer's interest in Coldplay comes as no surprise. Last month, Timbaland told Billboard.biz that the band was high on his hypothetical list of future musical partners. ''It takes a lot to really excite me,'' he said then. ''But I am excited about Coldplay.'' In a 2003 interview with MTV News, Timbaland described Coldplay as ''the only [artist] I'd like to do a song with.''

Representatives for Coldplay declined to confirm or deny Timbaland's participation. On Jan. 26, avant-garde icon Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads) told BBC Radio 4 that he has agreed to work on Coldplay's next album. The band's representatives told EW on Monday that Eno will co-produce, and that recording has yet to begin.

Working with the British rockers would be the latest genre-hopping move for Timbaland, who rose to fame as a hip-hop and R&B beatsmith but conquered the pop charts last year, producing multiple hits for Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin reportedly sang on a Timbaland-produced track for Furtado's 2006 album Loose, but Furtado has said that Martin's vocals were removed at the request of his label. Martin later produced and sang on a song from Jay-Z's comeback album Kingdom Come, and will reportedly appear on the first single from Kanye West's upcoming album Graduation.

Idlett denied rumors that Martin would be contributing to the producer's March 27 solo debut, Timbaland Presents Shock Value, which is expected to include cameos from guitar-centric acts including Fall Out Boy, She Wants Revenge, and the Hives.

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