Album: X & Y
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Capitol/EMI
Sounds like: U2

Expectations for Coldplay’s third album were high after the now classic masterpiece “A Rush of Blood to the Head.” But their “everyday guy” status (despite Chris Martin’s Hollywood connections) has helped them remain confident in the musical space they mapped out on “A Rush of Blood…” Unlike, say, Radiohead, whose mega-success saw them retreating into their art-school roots. Coldplay’s confidence is evident from the beginning of “X and Y,” with Martin optimistically asking “you’re in control, is there anywhere you want to go?” over a high synthesiser wash.
That song, “Square One”, has an almost dance-track momentum (also heard in first single “Speed of Sound”), but as soon as the band proper kicks in, another noticeable thing about “X & Y” is that the sound remains so close to U2’s, especially in Jonny Buckland’s guitars, digging industrially or splintering prettily like The Edge’s. Listen to how closely the verse of “Low"—pulsing bass, ephemeral chiming guitar—sounds like something from “The Unforgettable Fire.”
Chris Martin’s way around a vocal melody hasn’t been lost either. Many of the verses here are much more than simply paths to the choruses. “What If” starts like “The Scientist,” with piano chords and the kind of melody that instantly conjures images of vast concert singalongs. But the rest of the band is not content for Martin to keep the limelight, expanding, as on another stand-out slower number “Fix You”, the song into a grandiose sweep of sound. In “Fix You,” as Martin slides up into falsetto, Buckland again asserts himself with a staccato guitar riff like a faster “Yellow” and with hints of early U2.
The other comparison to U2 is that, unlike so much of modern pop music that is preoccupied with sex, or sarcastic and pessimistic, Martin continues to write lyrics that are, while sometimes vague (Bono doesn’t escape that charge either), universally relevant. Much of “X & Y” is concerned with communication and relationships. This is particularly obvious in “Talk,” where Martin repeatedly implores simply “let’s talk,” and manages to sound at once majestic and intimate. Pivoting on some more Edge-like guitar, and with deep and resonant backing, the song is one of the album’s two most monstrous tracks (the other being the more angular “White Shadows”).
The second half is not quite as momentous, but contains the gorgeous “Speed of Sound,” like a gentler “Clocks”, and with its chorus strangely paralleling Kate Bush’s 80s hit “Running up That Hill.” It also contains “The Hardest Part”—pseudo country-pop with a derivative opening that’s rescued by Martin’s way with a simple but memorable melody line, and the unlisted track “Til kingdom come” which shows Martin’s ability to tailor the songwriting for other singers (it was originally written for Johnny Cash—note the casual but happy guitar strumming and unusually low vocal).
On some downbeat lyrics (“Everything I know is wrong,” from “The Hardest Part”), Martin is less than convincing, sounding instead assured and uplifting, the tone for the album as a whole. While “X & Y” is not a leap like “A Rush of Blood…” was (and seriously, did we ever expect it could be?), it is, like its predecessor, a fine mix of musical integrity and pop appeal. Yes, Coldplay remain happily middle-of-the-road, like a kind of 21st Century Dire Straits, but because they are enjoyed by nearly everyone, not because they are less than able musicians.

Nick's Rating: 4/5