No 'Paradise' here

Fans waiting for Coldplay’s return to its roots are going to be sorely disappointed with “Mylo Xyloto.” 

In this latest album, Coldplay continues to move away from the sound that made it great, the sound of “Parachutes,” “A Rush of Blood to the Head” and “X&Y.” This sound was rock lite to be sure, with frontman Chris Martin’s falsetto giving it an uncommon beauty — but it was rock all the same. It was trademark Coldplay, and the charm and earnest romance in the songs worked for the band on every level.
 
“Viva La Vida” represented an alarming stylistic departure in which the band seemed to abandon the idea of being a rock band, seeking instead to create pleasant music best suited to unmemorable commercials. Soundscape music has always been Coldplay’s niche, but on “Viva La Vida” and now “Mylo Xyloto,” the band seems to abandon all pretense of making rock music.

With ambient great Brian Eno again on board as a seemingly domineering producer, this latest entry is most accurately described as ambient, generic quasi-rock. Martin’s vocals blend with the rest of the music, which luckily hides the largely trite, repetitive lyrics. For example, half of the lyrics on “Paradise” are either “Para-para-paradise,” “La-la-la-la-la-la” or “Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh.” Take note, Coldplay: This is not the stuff quality songs are made of.

Oddly, the most compelling song on the album is “Princess of China,” a collaboration with Rihanna. It doesn’t sound remotely like Coldplay; when I heard it on the radio, it took the entire song to convince me that it was, in fact, Coldplay. But the song has a catchy hook with a very uncharacteristic dance vibe, and the artists’ voices complement each other very well.

When I heard the first two big singles from “Mylo Xyloto” — “Paradise” and “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” — I hoped against hope that they weren’t representative of the album. Unfortunately, they are. The music is pretty, but that’s about it. It’s agreeable and likeable, but ultimately forgettable and unexciting.