Album review | Coldplay: ‘Mylo Xyloto’

Sabrina Barekzai
Contributing Writer

With seven Grammys and 50 million albums sold, it’s hard to deny that Coldplay has snatched the title of biggest band in the world from U2.

Similarly to their musical forefathers, Coldplay has its share of passionate haters. Coldplay’s lyrical promises of overcoming a broken heart coupled with tinkling pianos hold little to no cool points. In spite of their non-existent indie cred, Coldplay’s massively successful career shows no signs of slowing down.

Their fifth studio album, “Mylo Xyloto,” was highly anticipated and released on Tuesday. Three years after their last album, “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” dropped and went double platinum, “Mylo Xyloto” follows the same formula: orchestral instruments, grand choruses and lead singer Chris Martin’s signature crooning.

Cinematic-sounding sweeps dominate the album and produce the best tracks. If there’s one thing Coldplay has perfected over the last few years it’s how to craft grand anthems to fill an arena with their sound.

Martin told MTV that “Mylo Xyloto” is a “schizophrenic” album that’s all over the place. The sounds of “Mylo Xyloto” vary slightly enough throughout the album to hold truth to Martin’s claim. The uplifting “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart” includes a handsome piano accompaniment. Delving into a heavier side of Coldplay is the guitar-driven “Major Minus.” This is followed by “U.F.O.,” a pleasantly plucky ballad about lovers torn apart, lost and forlorn without each other. Where “Mylo Xyloto” slightly differs from “Viva la Vida” is with incorporating mediocre dance-like synths on tracks like “Paradise,” the second single from the album.

If there’s one glaring mistake on this album, it’s “Princess of China,” a collaborative effort with pop singer Rihanna. Though it’s cute that Coldplay and Rihanna thought a musical union among the two would produce a genre-defying song-child, the result is insufferable dross. Lyrically, the song is decent, but Rihanna’s vocals layered with Martin’s and laced over a generic synth beat sounds like something from an SNL Digital Short.

Three of the 14 tracks on the album are less than 60-second instrumental transitions into other songs. Opening song “Mylo Xyloto” flows into “Hurts Like Heaven,” a colorful and vibrant stand-out track. Another noticeable song is “Charlie Brown,” which is striking and intricate and instantly captures attention with a driving-piano beat.

“Mylo Xyloto” is a passionate effort full of complex symphonic parts and pretty pianos. Coldplay could have strived for something more experimental but stuck close to their previous model, resulting in nothing overreaching. A handful of songs on “Mylo Xyloto” contain lush melodies and heart-swelling choruses of epic proportions – so epic that they just slightly outweigh the duds..

3 / 4 STARS