Coldplay
What the hell is “Mylo Xyloto?” Millions of die-hard Coldplay fans were asking this question when the band first announced the title of their 5th LP on August 12th via their website. Surely since it’s the name of the first track on the disc we’ll get our answer!
Nope (and don’t call me Shirley). As it turns out the opening track is nothing but a 42 second intro track, much like the “Life in Technicolor” was on their previous LP Viva La Vida. However “Mylo Xyloto” is not so much an opening track as it is a prelude of noise to the album’s second song “Hurts Like Heaven.” Yes this will frustrate people a little bit, but I think it could just be the band’s idea of a good joke, giving fans something to talk about for a couple months and then providing no answers. At the end of the day, what’s in a name?
As “Hurts Like Heaven” kicks into gear, I completely forgot about any questions related to the album’s title. It’s a fast paced song that’s just perfect for an album opener. It pulled me in like an opening track should, making me appreciate the band’s energy and songwriting ability. I could definitely imagine them playing this song live and watching the crowd become absorbed into the falsetto wonder that is Chris Martin and his endless stockpile of energy. Next comes “Paradise,” the band’s current single. This is definitely my least favorite Coldplay single to date by a longshot. The song is just annoying and the repetitive chorus could be stripped from a Rihanna track (more on this later).
As the album continues I found myself flip-flopping back and forth on how much I liked this album. High points include the album’s first single, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” which is not as pretentious of a song as it sounds. Johnny Buckland showcases his guitar riffing skills like never before. Combine this with the rave synths and the thudding bass, and you’ve got one hell of a dance party. Immediately following that is the trippy-acoustic “Major Minus” that begs to be played at a music festival. As far as slow ballads go, it’s definitely mandatory that Coldplay writes one per album. Here we get “Up in Flames,” a falsetto-layered ballad depicting a broken relationship gone awry. Sound familiar?
The album does have quite a few lowlights in addition to the highlights. I personally found “Us Against the World” take me out of the experience as it sludged along. “Princess of China” sounds catchy and synthy at first, but to put it in the words of one of my good friends: “who cares?” Rihanna showcases her vocal talent (anyone that says she has none is kidding themselves), but as far as lyrics go, the song did nothing for me, which is important whenever you start a song off with the lyrics “once upon a time…” This song sounds like a terrible b-side that never should have made it onto the album. Aside from “Up in Flames,” the whole second half of the album really did nothing for me. The last three songs in particular felt forced and uninteresting.
Coldplay has definitely come a long way over the years, starting as more of an acoustic band and pushing that sound further with each album. Calling them a U2 knockoff would be inaccurate because unlike the boys from Ireland, Coldplay doesn’t take themselves too seriously and they don’t try to save the world with their lyrics. Mylo Xyloto is a much more cheerful album whose themes suits the band much better, but at times it feels like they want to do too much. I’ve accepted that Coldplay will most likely never recapture the magic that made their first two albums so great. It’s best to just appreciate their subsequent albums for what they are. While Mylo Xyloto is not even near their best album, I wouldn’t call it their worst. I’d prefer to say it’s my least favorite.
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