Coldplay is inarguably the biggest contemporary rock band in the world. They sell out the world’s biggest arenas, score number one albums all over the globe, keep up with contemporary pop radio, and have one of the most loyal fan bases around. Coming off the success of their 2008 album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, which spawned a US/UK number one single, “Viva La Vida,” the band had quite a bit to live up to with their fifth album, confusingly titled Mylo Xyloto.
In true Coldplay fashion, the band decided to take an unconventional approach to this project. Instead of taking the usual route of completing an album, releasing a single, and then taking the music to a live area, the band completely reversed the process. Coldplay decided to headline festivals all over the world, fresh off the heels of the single “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” before the album was even completed. With about half of the soon-to-be-album-tracks being touted to the masses via the internet, live streaming, television, and even radio, serious opinions of Mylo Xyloto were being made prior to anyone actually hearing the album.
However, it was Coldplay who had the last laugh on this one. Any preconceived ideas that fans and critics alike took from individual songs had to be chucked out the window pretty quick. What we have here is not a collection of individual songs, but an album, a concept album at that. The songs are nothing more than individual pieces of a mosaic that make up a greater work of art. If Coldplay have accomplished anything with Mylo Xyloto, it’s crafting the perfect flowing album. There’s diversity in music, flawless sequencing, and impeccable cohesion. Not to mention, a pretty solid love story line, equipped with break up and resolution, that runs seamlessly throughout.
Musically, we see the two opposite ends of the Coldplay spectrum, with very little in between. There’s much more guitar, and much less piano. Standout track “Charlie Brown” sees the band’s most memorable instrumental hook in years, while “Major Minus” actually features a far-too-rare guitar solo. On the other side, we see a complete departure from their comfort zone, and instead are met with synthesized musical landscapes in tracks like “Paradise” and “Princess of China.” Despite the variety, Mylo Xyloto still manages to act as a unified piece of music. The short instrumental interludes (there are three) really act as the glue, and despite being totally nondescript in their own right, actually end up being essential to the album’s success.
Probably the album’s biggest hindrance is the lack of “oomph.” There’s no soaring climax a la “Fix You,” or breathtaking piano line a la “Clocks,” or even huge sing-a-long moment a la “The Scientist.” Most songs don’t follow a conventional “verse-chorus” structure, and the ones that do tend to have very simple hooks of maybe one or two lines, some random syllables, or just one repeated word. This is easily the farthest Coldplay have been from their comfort zone, but they haven’t lost touch with their essence; it’s still undeniably them. As a result, paradoxically, the parts that hinder the album actually make it that much better. It’s all about restraint, restraint, restraint. Songs like “Us Against The World” and “Up In Flames” masterfully begin to build into something big before immediately retreating to simplicity. So what if there’s no “Fix You” moment on here? They’ve been there and done that.
The real difference between Mylo Xyloto and every other one of their albums is that all of the songs depend on each other. Take “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart” out on its own, and it’s a pretty decent song. Put it in the context of the album and it’s an absolute masterpiece. Even the addition of Rihanna in “Princess of China,” which seems like the worst musical pairing in the world, makes perfect sense by the time the track appears.
For better or worse, most of the songs aren’t nearly as successful when pulled out to stand alone. This doesn’t read like a “singles” collection like some of their previous works, which, to a degree is a little disappointing. However, it’s clear that Coldplay weren’t going for “stand alone” this time around; they were looking at the bigger picture. Take the fact that the album is so well-paced and that it comes in at under 45 minutes, that going with them on this concept and listening to the whole thing at once is well worth it. Mylo Xyloto is a really good collection of songs, but an absolutely incredible album.
