Coldplay

Ever since Coldplay started out in 1998, their leader Chris Martin has certainly not shied away from religious references. This habit, however, seems to have reached new heights with Everyday Life, the group’s eighth album. In some cases, the spiritual outbursts are characterised by a distinct (and never over-the-top) gentleness. The simple guitar/voice/birdsong track comes WOTW/POTP to mind, as does the eight-person gospel song performed with no accompaniment (BrokEn). At other points, the musical colour and content are much more lyrical, like in Church, When I Need a Friend, and Arabesque, a call for peace. This last song features Stromae (who sings in French) and the Nigerian saxophonist Omorinmade Anikulapo-Kuti. The other “big” track on the album is Orphans: over Coldplay’s typical soaring pop-rock rhythms and a large choir, Chris Martin carries the torch for forced migrants and refugees.Divided into two parts (Sunrise and Sunset), Everyday Life constantly plays with the idea of yin and yang, something which is evident even on the album cover; the quartet pose like traditional fanfare musicians next to Friedrich Nietzsche! The image appears both the right side up and upside-down. All throughout the album, Coldplay alternates between positive energy (like on the soft voice/piano song Daddy) and anger-filled denunciations of today’s social ills (such as on the rock-guitar track Guns). Towards the end of the album we find a song with an unusual title and lyrics - for a mainstream Western album that is. Entitled بنی آدم (Children of Adam in Arabic) and beginning with a melancholic waltz on the piano, the piece was inspired by Bani Adam, a text written by the Persian poet Saadi Shirazi. Chris Martin’s spiritual, benevolent way of thinking - especially evident on this album – seems to be summed up in just the first two lines: “The children of Adam are members of a whole/In creation of one essence and soul”. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

A seventh studio album from Chris Martin’s & Co.! So, how does one approach a new album when your name is Coldplay and you’re about to celebrate your twentieth anniversary? The answer comes to us in the form of ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’, and what a response it is! Coldplay may surprise many with what is an exciting, colourful, even festive effort here, with the group leader insisting it's a record apart from attempts. "It’s our seventh thing and the way we look at it it’s like the last Harry Potter book.” He explains to the BBC Radio 1. “That’s not to say there won’t be another thing one day, but this is the completion of something ... I have to think of it as the final thing we’re doing, otherwise we wouldn’t put everything into it.” And indeed they have – featuring Noel Gallagher, Avicii, Merry Clayton, Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow (former Mrs. Martin) and even a certain Barack Obama (sampled on a title), ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ moves through pop ballads, dancefloor tracks and even almost crosses over into R&B. © CM / Qobuz

You have to be really sure of your concerts to be able to release a fifth live album after only 18 years career time. But stage performances are such a speciality for Coldplay that Chris Martin's group can allow themselves to release this Live In Buenos Aires album rather an eighth studio album, which is being eagerly awaited their fans... Recorded during the A Head Full of Dreams World Tour, this album captures (with amazing sound quality) the powerful 15th of November (2017) show in the Argentinean capital. As per usual, the four Brits play with the constant participation of a totally devoted crowd. U2 often put on these types of shows, Coldplay being their most obvious successors. From the stadium hymn (Viva La Vida) to the early classics (Yellow, Clocks), Coldplay put on a real electric fiesta. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

Ever since Coldplay started out in 1998, their leader Chris Martin has certainly not shied away from religious references. This habit, however, seems to have reached new heights with Everyday Life, the group’s eighth album. In some cases, the spiritual outbursts are characterised by a distinct (and never over-the-top) gentleness. The simple guitar/voice/birdsong track comes WOTW/POTP to mind, as does the eight-person gospel song performed with no accompaniment (BrokEn). At other points, the musical colour and content are much more lyrical, like in Church, When I Need a Friend, and Arabesque, a call for peace. This last song features Stromae (who sings in French) and the Nigerian saxophonist Omorinmade Anikulapo-Kuti. The other “big” track on the album is Orphans: over Coldplay’s typical soaring pop-rock rhythms and a large choir, Chris Martin carries the torch for forced migrants and refugees.Divided into two parts (Sunrise and Sunset), Everyday Life constantly plays with the idea of yin and yang, something which is evident even on the album cover; the quartet pose like traditional fanfare musicians next to Friedrich Nietzsche! The image appears both the right side up and upside-down. All throughout the album, Coldplay alternates between positive energy (like on the soft voice/piano song Daddy) and anger-filled denunciations of today’s social ills (such as on the rock-guitar track Guns). Towards the end of the album we find a song with an unusual title and lyrics - for a mainstream Western album that is. Entitled بنی آدم (Children of Adam in Arabic) and beginning with a melancholic waltz on the piano, the piece was inspired by Bani Adam, a text written by the Persian poet Saadi Shirazi. Chris Martin’s spiritual, benevolent way of thinking - especially evident on this album – seems to be summed up in just the first two lines: “The children of Adam are members of a whole/In creation of one essence and soul”. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

A little less than two years after the release of A Head Full of Dreams, Coldplay have brought out these five tracks, presented as an interlude - a kind of companion EP for their last studio album. Chris Martin's band are clearly at a crossroads. Having grown into a kind of millennial U2, Coldplay are hopping between their original DNA, the evolution of the sounds of their times, and a strong propensity for turning out crowd-pleasers. And all this without, clearly, losing their soul. That is surely what drove them to work again with the great Brian Eno (who produced Mylo Xyloto in 2011 and Viva la Vida in 2008) on the song A L I E N S, which is the central piece of Kaleidoscope. On this track, the English band are returning to their roots. The basis of a very contemporary pop music which is at once adventurous and firmly based in a musical consensus. This is a pop which is wrapped up in magical and intriguing sounds that are clearly came from Eno. On All I Can Think About is You, which opens hostilities brilliantly, Coldplay are at their most charming, their most intriguing even, in the form of this hypnotic ballad. As for Miracles (Someone Special), they provide us with a new and perfect mix of pop and R&B, with the help of Atlanta rapper Big Sean. In short, Coldplay are mastering every new genre that they venture out into... A Head Full of Dreams was a particularly snappy, exultant record, colourful and celebratory. "It's our seventh thing,", Chris Martin told the BBC, "and the way we look at it, it's like the last Harry Potter book or something like that. Not to say that there might not be another thing one day, but this is the completion of something." The Kaleidoscope EP shows us the Coldplay of tomorrow while they keep one eye fixed on the past... © CM/Qobuz