Coldplay, Everyday Life, Album Review
Coldplay
Everyday Life
Album Review
The recent decade for a band like Coldplay has been a disheartening one to say the least. Ever since the phenomenal Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends dropped all the way back in 2008, the group haven't managed to top or even match that album since.
2011's Mylo Xyloto would become the beginning or a more shallow and far less memorable sound from Coldplay, and the same also goes for 2014's Ghost Stories.
The band would then release A Head Full of Dreams a year later. And while the track "Adventure of a Lifetime" reintroduced a well-needed upbeat nature to Coldplay's music, not an awful lot of the album followed suit. I would even have to say that "Hymn for the Weekend", a track on the same album, has to be my least favourite hit in Coldplay's entire discography. This all culminates to make their 2015 effort, a mixed bag overall.
Four years later, we fast-forward to the announcement of Coldplay's newest project; Everyday Life.
I must say, that the tracks which teased this new album really raised my hopes up. I missed a couple of tracks which were released right before the full album, but managed to listen to the three beforehand.
The teasing began with two singles "Orphans" and "Arabesque", both of which I loved. "Orphans" felt like a round 2 of "Adventure of a Lifetime" with it being very joyful and upbeat. However, I think "Arabesque" is possibly the most unique and engaging track that Coldplay has offered us this decade. Its gritty bass-lines and awesome horns really give the track this sinister mood, one that we don't see from Coldplay often enough.
The third teaser, which also serves as the title track for this album, felt very glossy and celestial, but in the best way. In other words, I saw this as a Coldplay slow-jam done right.
Unfortunately, there wasn't an awful lot to follow from there on out. Many of the newer tracks missed the mark for me. for instance, I thought that the song "Trouble In Town" did sound quite good in its progression on the first listen, as well as highlighting racial politics in the U.S. However, it got more and more patience-testing the more I listened to it, especially with the repetition of the sound clip that plays in the bridge of the rack.
I also quite enjoyed the track "Guns", but I wanted that track to progress more. In the end, I didn't think it ended up really going anywhere, which was a shame as I think this track had the potential to be stellar.
In fact, the only new track that I saw that way was the second track "Church", which is absolutely gorgeous! It kind of reminded me a bit of the title track for its similar melody, but the drum beat and the growing strings really allows this song to be a highlight on the album. I also think it sounds a lot like something you'd be able to hear on their 2005 album "X&Y"
There are some other pretty sounding tracks on this album, such as the opening track "Sunrise", and "When I Need A Friend". Both of these are very beautiful melodically, but in their case I do find them to be a little style-over-substance.
The track which i get along with the least on here is probably "Daddy". I appreciate the theme of neglect on this song, but the lyrics are just very mundane, and the production very shallow. It didn't really do anything for me.
Needless to say though, the good tracks on this album are very, very good. It's just a shame that they come so rarely. But only because it truly hasn't had much competition, it still manages to pull through as my favourite Coldplay album of the decade.
Thank you for reading,
Booth Boy
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