Coldplay and the Bright Side of the Moon

The difference an answer makes in an interview: Chris Martin, speaking in recent days with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, said that Coldplay will make 12 albums, then stop. In the days of the release of “Moon music”, it became the news covered by newspapers all over the world. But it is not the band’s last album: it is “only” the tenth: at least 2 more will follow, if they keep their word it will take at least another 5-6 years for a possible farewell to the scene. It’s up to you to decide whether it’s a good thing (as their many haters claim) or a bad thing.

Coldplay maximalism

“Less is more” Martin commented immediately afterwards in the same interview. In the last phase of their career, Coldplay were many things but certainly not minimalist: “Moon music” is no exception, with its colourful, multifaceted pop, full of sounds, ideas, guests.

The album is thought of as a direct continuation of “Music of the spheres”, released three years ago: it was recorded during the breaks of the gigantic tour that has been going on for more than two years. Alongside the band there is a now consolidated cast: the producer Max Martin (the Swedish King Midas of pop), the Italian Davide Rossi on the orchestral arrangements, the producer John Hopkins, Brian Eno. There are similar themes, starting from the astronomical imagination: there the planets, here the moon. If the inspiration of the satellite makes you think of Pink Floyd, here we are on the opposite side, metaphorically and musically: “Moon music”, with its pop, is the bright side of the moon.

The moon is better than the spheres

There is two good news: the album, at first listen, sounds a little less distracting than the previous one, which put too many irons on the fire without ever really cooking them. Let’s be clear: here too we pass through many genres, from epic pop to electronic, from piano ballads to acoustic and orchestral sounds, with interludes between one song and another. But “Moon music” sounds more organic than its predecessor: Coldplay seem to want to summarize their career, bringing together their different souls.

The second good news is that the first single “feelslikeimfallinginlove” is an isolated case, fortunately. When I listened to it I thought that Coldplay had become their own cover band, with that “I know, lalalala” that seemed thrown in at random due to a lack of lyrical ideas.

But Coldplay on “Moon Music” are much better than that faded copy of themselves: and you can tell from the first song, the title track, a song with Jon Hopkins (here’s our interview). The producer has been collaborating with the band for 16 years but for the first time he is credited as featuring: it is one of the most beautiful things on the album, you can feel his hand in the instrumental introduction which opens into a beautiful ballad. The acoustic sounds of “Jupiter” work, with abundant presence of choirs and Davide Rossi’s strings, with an ending that seems to quote “Viva la vida”, while ‘iAAM’ (“I Am a Mountain”) recalls pop-rock of the first albums; “Good Feelings” is funk pop with Nile Rodgers.

Sometimes we go back to exaggerating: “AETERNA” is electronic with a straight bass drum that ends with an African choir that has nothing to do with the song: it all clashes with the previous songs too. “We pray” instead brings together too many things: strings, beats and rap. But then they place piano ballads like “All my love” or almost ambient pieces like the final “One world” (with Brian Eno), which still know how to move and amaze.

Pop ‘n’ roll

To paraphrase the Stones: “It’s only pop, but we like it”. Optimism, good feelings, melodies: pop is made of these things, and Coldplay knows how to interpret it well. Sometimes they get too carried away, but this time – despite their maximalism – they have created a focused album.

For a band that thinks of quitting in a few years, they have a lot of ideas, and they know how to translate them into beautiful songs