Coldplay, Middle England whingers/indie gods (delete as you see fit) released their fifth studio album Monday.
Mylo Xyloto is *turns to Wikipedia* a concept album influenced by old-school American graffiti and the anti-Nazi White Rose movement . ‘Mylo’ and ‘Xyloto’ are the two characters in a love story that unfolds as the album progresses.
But yeah, enough of that concept guff: is it any good ? Well, it’s been mixed so far.
The Los Angeles Times ( review here ) says, “Every touch of lyrical bitterness is followed by enough sugar to mask the taste, which might be good in the short term but isn’t a recipe for long-term health,” before awarding it 1.5 stars out of 4 .
The UK’s Independent (review here) says things go from promising to er, bad: “‘Hurts Like Heaven’ opens proceedings at a peak, the twinkly demeanour of its bustling pop layered with disparate guitar lines; but it’s downhill from there, the supposed concept – lovers united against an oppressive dystopia – rendered in music that’s equally as hackneyed.” A 2 out of 5 score follows.
Rolling Stone ( review here ) is a little more upbeat, scoring the album a 3.5 out of 5 and writing that, “[Lead singer Chris] Martin sings nakedly about how breakups can feel like the end of the world, or maybe it’s about the actual end of the world. Either way, as end-times lullabies go, it’s pretty sweet.”
And it’s a C+ from Melissa Maerz at Entertainment Weekly ( review here ), who writes: “There’s some great arena-ready uplift here, but then, you can get that on a Snow Patrol record. What’s missing is the innovation that made Viva La Vida so dynamic. (Where has that Persian dulcimer gone?) The world doesn’t seem sick of Coldplay, but maybe they’re sick of themselves.”
Anyone think they’ll be picking this up? Maybe we can start an irrelevant and outdated Coldplay vs Radiohead argument or something. Those seem pretty popular on the Internet.
