Doomotron

Perhaps A Wave would be a hidden track? O was used as the end song for Ghost Stories concerts and was a hidden track on the album, it could be the same here. (That's assuming A Wave is still the ending song for MOTS concerts)

The 'stories' are on Spotify mobile, the credits can be found anywhere, including the manual of the album.

See the attached files.

It reminds me of 2010s Bloc Party electronic songs like Ion Square, One More Chance, Your Visits Are Getting Shorter and Flux. Songs I like a lot, so hopefully Aeterna's final release will sound a bit like them. I can't say for now as the uploads are too low quality unless someone's found a high quality upload I haven't heard.

Coloratura is the correct spelling. A coloratura has absolutely nothing to do with colours. "Coloratura is an elaborate melody with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar virtuoso-like material, or a passage of such music."

Absolutely. An Everyday Life part 2 is basically what I want, although I'd love to see some unreleased songs put on it as well like A Ghost (assuming the more pop-orientated unreleased songs have been released by then). For me it works better because Fly On is more emotional (and arguably better produced, don't shoot me) than Everyday Life and therefore works better as an ending. Champion Of The World gives me the same feelings as Everything's Not Lost, for me Everyday Life is a nothing song.

It has been a while since I properly listened to Everyday Life, so I thought it would be fun to put my thoughts on each song down as I listen to it. Sunrise: This song is not unlike The Wider Sun by Jon Hopkins. Both are instrumental string intros to albums. But while The Wider Sun is somewhat dramatic, Sunrise is a bit sadder. Both work well but the similarities make me feel like you could have swapped the two songs around and Everyday Life and Insides would sound pretty much identical on the whole. Church: One thing that annoys me is that Sunrise/The Wider Sun didn't lead into it in some way. It feels like a prime opportunity to do that. But listening to the song itself, I feel it's a near-perfect rainy day song. You'd never listen to this at a party, and I doubt it would work for music when you're working, but I imagine listening to it lying in bed relaxing. The Arabic (I think) chants are a nice chant although I think they are there for too long, I would have preferred Chris' vocals to take centre stage in the second half of the song. Trouble In Town: A true gem, some of Coldplay's best work. A dark, almost Radiohead-like backing compliments vague but political and poetic lyrics that near the end explodes into the album's first true highlight moment. However, there is one thing I don't like. In the bridge is an example of police misconduct in the USA. The song's lyrics alluded to police brutality but were always subtle, but I feel the recording put in makes the meaning so blunt that any impact the lyrics had seemed pointless, as if Coldplay assumed we were too dumb to go to Genius Lyrics to find out the meaning of the song. Recently I listened to Like Spinning Plates by Radiohead. It is a dark song with ambiguous lyrics, sung in a very strange manner. It is about the Iraq war and points fingers at New Labour and the other governments who started the war. It does not throw this meaning in your face. You need to figure it out. "While you make pretty speeches I'm being cut to shreds" "You feed me to the lions, a delicate balance" "I'm living in cloud cuckoo land" All three lines I mention talk about the government positively spinning the war to justify the war while the soldiers actually fighting were living through hell. It is not a pleasant song, but I was pleased when I figured out the lyrics - by myself. BrokEn: BrokEn is a nice little song that is the second genre break from Coldplay's norm in the album. It is rather feel-good despite its lyrics and feels like it could have been made by The Beatles. I'm not a fan of them but this is a compliment. Daddy: This is a heartfelt piece and possibly one of the highlights of the album. However I feel it doesn't justify its five minute playtime. Everything that happens could have been done in three, and even the addition of a guitar near the end doesn't make me more engaged in it. It's just too long for its own good, which is unfortunate because the song itself is very nice. WOTW / POTP: I think the lofi recording suits this really well. This song feels like a little demo Coldplay never finished in the best way possible - not that there really is a bad way, since most of Coldplay's demos are good. A little and sweet intro to Arabesque. Arabesque: Oh boy, this is a good one. The critical acclaim is fully justified - this song is a Coldplay song on stylistic steroids. The horns are what keep this song so good. The lyrics aren't that special, and the song again goes on for too long, but every time those horns come in a smile appears on my face. At exactly the same time though it doesn't feel like a Coldplay song, but that's a good thing. They don't get more experimental than this, and I reckon it should have been a single on its own - the lead single. If Coldplay want to make a concept album, this is the song that shows this more than any other. There is one more thing to talk about... The ending of Arabesque is the most dramatic, wide-sounding and downright awesome music they've possibly ever created. When I buy new speakers I test them with the ending - good audio equipment unleashes the ending of the song. Bad speakers and headphones make it feel like it's being played in another room. The build up and the execution is a masterpiece. In the years since 2019 Coldplay haven't released a song that sounds better than the ending of Arabesque - even Coloratura never reaches its heights. That said, I am sad about this song not being part of the MOTS tour more than any other on the album. This is the one I would have wanted to hear live the most. When I Need A Friend: This is quite the tone shift isn't it. A choir song. Tell somebody from 2015 that Coldplay would release When I Need A Friend and they wouldn't believe you. The song in many ways is haunting, but I felt the little instrumentation ruined the effect partly. It sounds a bit too happy with it. GOD=LOVE: Not much to say here. It's a field recording of church bells. A nice easter egg on the CD, but nothing crazy. Moving on. Guns: This is a song that could have been released fifty years ago. This song is clearly humorous and shouldn't be taken too seriously, but I appreciate how fun the song feels. It all works well, and I don't really have anything bad to say. Orphans: This is among my favourites of Coldplay's pop songs. The ending is satisfying and feels justified. The lyrics are political yet vague (how come they couldn't do that on Trouble In Town?) and beautifully contradictory to the upbeat instrumental. This is one of the few songs on the album I wish lasted a bit longer, since the ending sounds so good I'd like to have a bit more of it. I must also point out the music video. It features a bunch of alternate mixes and each one I love. I'm disappointed the music video version or the individual recordings weren't released, as each brings a different mood to the table. I'd especially like the one that starts at 1:07. Eko: This feels like a happier version of Daddy. Other than that it's pretty unremarkable, but is not a bad song by any means. Cry Cry Cry: Other than the annoying Angel Moon lyrics, we have another song that sounds like it's from the past in quite a nice way. I'd imagine hearing it in an American diner perhaps. Like Eko, it's otherwise not much to write about. Eko: Please look at my review of Eko, but change 'Daddy' to WOTW / POTP. Bani Adam: Track 22 serves as an extended intro to Champion Of The World. The piano number at the start is rather pretty and feels like a different song to the rest of it. About a minute and a half in the second section starts, a small spoken part that is bassy and charming. At the very end is the very cute intro to Champion Of The World. I do like songs that lead into each other sometimes, but here I don't think it works. I would have preferred having all of this section in Champion Of The World instead of having a tonally different blip at the end of Bani Adam. Champion Of The World: This song feels like it should have been the ending to Everyday Life, It is heart-warming and passionate, like Everything's Not Lost, Up&Up and Up With The Birds. It is absolutely among my favourites on Everyday Life and I often confuse it for the final song on the album, but it isn't. The lyrics are sweet, the instrumental matches the lyrics well, and overall we have a very nice not-closing track, Everyday Life: I don't know why this is the final track. It feels like a bonus track really - as I said before, Champion Of The World should have been the ending. It is absolutely a nice song but one that isn't impressive by any means. It doesn't go to anywhere (unlike COTW) and doesn't do much in the four minutes it lasts. It should have been on the album, but somewhere else so it doesn't give us an unsatisfactory end to one of Coldplay's best albums. Flags: The Japanese bonus track that finally got released as a single about a year after the album first released. It's a friendly and approachable song that would have been a great pallet cleanser on the main album, even if its lyrics are a bit fantastical. I once said it was the best song on the album - I haven't believed that for a while now but I do believe it's one of the better ones and could even have been a better ending than Everyday Life (but still not better as an ending than Champion Of The World).

They've done this before, when they covered their own song, Gravity, which they'd previously given to Embrace who released it in a completely different style. It is interesting that Coldplay would perform The Astronaut alone, and it suggests they might release it as their own song... Why perform a song days after announcing a new album that isn't for said new album? The Astronaut gives me a clear image in my head, particularly Coldplay's version. I imagine it being played at the end of a sad film when the tone changes and everyone will be alright as the credits start to roll.

I just listened to it, it's actually rather nice. Hopefully the rest of the tracks as good or better than this.

What's The Astronaut?

I generally don't keep up with these things; is it normal for Coldplay to go on an interview spree before announcing something new?

I doubt it'll be released unless they released an EP where alternate mixes could be justified. It certainly won't appear on the next album, although songs reappearing on multiple albums is a real thing - You And Me Always by The Wannadies appeared on both their first and second albums.

Coldplay and Radiohead's demos are similar in many ways. We've known about them for years, most have been leaked in full, and many are pretty much done. Man Of War was hidden for years but then was released, and was spectacular. The AHFOD demos you mention are really good - they could probably release them as they are now and it would be fan service. And hopefully they'd throw in a soundboard version of A Wave and Life Is Beautiful too...

They might be doing a Radiohead and going through the archives to see what can be released. Radiohead are still releasing 20 year old demos mainly in the OKNOTOK and Kid A Mnesia reissues (some of which are among their best songs), alongside some that pop up in albums like True Love Waits. Hopefully Coldplay are doing the same thing and by the time their final album comes out every good demo that has leaked will be released officially. Alternatively they might end up having something similar to David Bowie's posthumous releases with demos and unreleased live recordings - oh, and most of an entire album.

If so, AI has come a long way. I might try and use AI to make a remastered version of A View From The Top! I'm not sure why you're upset about it though, obviously the context of something won't transfer all the time when it's posted elsewhere, either intentionally or unintentionally. We 'fell for it' because we didn't get the context it was AI-generated and because it was a well produced AI generation at that.

The possibility of a short time between singles and release is not out of the question I think - they could even do a Radiohead Special and not release any singles at all. Hopefully it won't be like the last album where Higher Power came out months before the next single, Coloratura, itself months away from My Universe and the actual album.

Back To Life (Unless there's a new version I don't know about) was an improvised* song at a live performance with Coleman Barks. There is a fan made version on YouTube which uses Chris' improvised lyrics for a full song, which is actually really good and I'd love to see turned into a real song. *I have seen mentions of this but I can't guarantee it, the lyrics may be improvised or they might not be.

I never look elsewhere, I don't trust most websites that host these leaks.

I don't like bumping old threads (even if I created it) but with the relatively recent leaking of Colilyakliuk there are new rumours of the next album. The leak screams 'demo' for me but people are complaining anyway, and I doubt people will be happy if it's a real song they release. Although it could end up like Heart On Fire, where opinion is split between people saying they love it and those who passionately despise it.

When you say lossless, has it been uploaded to places other than YouTube?

No. Coldplay frequently delete uploads of unreleased material (particularly The Race) even if they have no plans to release it. A few years ago uploads of The Race couldn't stay on YouTube for more than a month without being taken down, and we never got The Race then.

Are you aware of a previous version? Because the three versions now do fit the current knowledge that The Race was written for Ghost Stories and then modified for AHFOD but ditched both times. The two similar Ghost Stories versions fit together, with the guitar solo version probably being an addition made the band to improve the song, which it definitely did. Then the newly leaked AHFOD version is radically different, and like how the GS versions fit the style of Ghost Stories (quite similar to Ink's style) the AHFOD version is closer in tone and sound to the AHFOD album.

Posting leaks is against forum rules, sorry. If you have Audacity it's easy to make yourself, just cut the new leak where the bridge starts and fade that after the Ghost Stories reaches the end of the guitar solo. It creates quite a nice transition, although my editing is certainly not perfect.

I have made my ideal The Race version, combining the newly leaked version and other leaks. It combines my favourite bits from each of the three versions. Most of the song comes from the second Ghost Stories version (the one with the guitar solo at the end). After it, the song goes to the bridge of the new AHFOD leak and then continues to the end of that version. I wanted to have the second chorus of the new leak but I couldn't find a way to get it to work sadly. The mix I made is just shy of six minutes long. I would upload it but I don't think I'm allowed to here and I can't upload it to YouTube as I don't want it to be removed because of a copyright strike.

Really nice work, a good alternate take to A Wave. Would you be able to upload it as a WAV or FLAC file?