‘X and Y’ by Coldplay

‘X and Y’ by Coldplay

From the birth of lead singer and composer Chris Martin’s daughter to headlining Live8 in London, it’s hard to escape the shine of Coldplay. In their third album, X and Y, the band savours its talent for capturing emotions so simply, easily relating to most listeners

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Thu 21 Jul 2005 12:00 AM

From the birth of lead singer and composer Chris Martin’s daughter to headlining

Live8 in London, it’s hard to escape the shine of Coldplay. In their third album, X and

Y, the band savours its talent for capturing emotions so simply, easily relating to

most listeners on an emotional level.

 

Although this album features a more progressive sound than the others, there are

still a couple of slow gems. Songs like “White Shadows” demonstrate how Coldplay

can keep their mostly unique sound while swirling it into something that sounds like

a finely tuned semi-slow rock song. This to many illustrates how X and Y is split into

two musical levels.

 

The first is an energetic flurry of highs and lows that with Will Champion’s flawless

drumming manage to keep the rhythm high and vibrant as seen in track 5 “Talk.”

Songs like the title track “X and Y” start slow, but the chorus is soothing and creates

the urge to burst into song. The first single, “Speed of Sound” falls into this first

group. Guitar riffs are placed perfectly, Chris Martin’s vocals float above the musical

flashing clouds, powerfully portraying the challenges he and the band have faced of

late in the media’s eye.

 

The second group is reserved for the tracks that could possibly make the weakhearted

weep just a little. “Swallowed in the Sea” has possibly the nicest lyrics in the

album; the structure of the song is so simple yet so effective. This is the beauty of

some of Coldplay’s songs: simplicity ultimately transforms into pure musical and

emotional satisfaction.

 

With the release of this album however, some may wonder if Coldplay can muster

anything other than what they have produced in the past five years – Ballads and

Sonnets, which seem to be the extent of their musical repertoire. But then again,

what they do, they do very well. It really is quite impressive that Coldplay can make

three albums that superficially sound similar and yet manage nonetheless to conjure

strong emotions each time.

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