By Max Luebbers ’16, Entertainment Editor
Coldplay’s 7th and potentially final studio album Head Full of Dreams dropped last week, less than 2 years after the mournful, electronic Ghost Stories. Unlike its entirely uninspiring predecessor, Mylo Xyloto, from 2012, Ghost Stories seemed to be setting the biggest rock band in the world back on track, with a sound somewhere between the emotionally lo-fi Parachutes (2000), and the spacey anthemic classic X&Y (2005). However, Ghost Stories was panned on release for never reaching for the same heights as Coldplay’s previous studio albums. I too was initially underwhelmed, but with each subsequent listen I discovered an under-appreciated gem with some instant classics like “Midnight” and “Always in My Head”. While the album never builds up to the orchestral ballads that once made Coldplay so compelling, Ghost Stories delivers an ethereal experiment in electronica-infused minimalism for the 20 year-old pop group. It unfortunately also suffered from filler songs and a lack of true dynamics to punctuate each track. Had Coldplay released Ghost Stories as a shorter EP it might have reached the level of 1999’s fantastic Blue Room.
Head Full of Dreams was only announced a month before release and was conceived as a more up-beat follow up to Ghost Stories. I was initially worried due to its conspicuous similarity to the horrendous Coldplay single “Sky Full of Stars”, infamously produced by Swedish Sting-doppelganger Avicii: the man responsible for such abominations as folktronic “classic” “Wake Me Up”. However, I was pleasantly surprised then to hear a strong psychedelic, trip-hop style of production on Head Full of Dreams’s first single “Adventure of a Lifetime”. Despite occasionally slipping into Maroon 5 territory, a strong beat and glitchy production got me excited for a more dance-oriented album. That hope was almost completely erased by their promotional single “Everglow”. The Bruce Hornsby-esque piano line is incredibly sappy and the track drags on and on, with little variation in tone or structure.
Unfortunately the same complaints resurface in the album itself. Despite strong tracks at the beginning that had me convinced Coldplay had finally found an answer to the danc-y Mylo Xyloto, “Ever Glow” along with other tracks like “Amazing Day” immediately kill the strong vibe the album opens with. Devoid of all energy, all the problems with Mylo Xyloto return. On that studio release, the group crafted some excellent guitar-based dance tracks like “Charlie Brown” and “Hurts like Heaven” but were ultimately swallowed by the mass of drone-y pop ballads. The same thing happens in Head Full of Dreams. While some outstanding singles hold up the album, it can’t survive the weight of the radio-pop in the middle of the release or its anticlimactic and unimpressive ending.
The album is also plagued by a distinct lack of identity. This is surprising for Coldplay due to their excellent branding and ability to craft cohesive studio releases. Head Full of Stars can’t quite figure out what exactly it is. Sometimes it’s filled with sampled dance tracks, other times loung-y 80’s ballads take center-stage, and again other times it’s a club-style house album. The band has always been good at reinventing itself with every release, yet still producing focused albums that don’t innovate but instead perfect. Head Full of Dreams perfects the genres it tackles but never achieves the cohesiveness of the past work or the sheer volume of classic singles off albums like A Rush of Blood to the Head, X&Y, and Viva La Vida.
I find it incredibly easy to get sentimental about Coldplay. Their early albums were the soundtrack to my childhood, and not many songs get me as emotional as “Yellow” or “Fix You”. But ever since Viva La Vida in 2008 the group has lost most of their fire. That might be the nostalgia talking, but they were truly great. While they never pushed the boundaries of their contemporaries like Radiohead, people often forget that their signature brand of happy/sad anthems were a big departure from the cynicism and anger found in grunge and shoegaze in the 90s. Their lyrics were never great, but “Yellow”, “Violet Hill”, and “Fix You” were some of the best and most iconic singles of last decade and the group remains some of the greatest writers in music, despite always remaining “accessible” to the mainstream listener.
Head Full of Dream, however, ultimately disappoints despite some good ideas in the production. With this latest release I can’t help but think that Coldplay has finally played itself out, and I’ll be happy to see Chris Martin, Will Champion, Guy Berryman, and Johnny Buckland part ways. With that being said their last shot at recapturing the magic of their early career closes with a drawn-out and anticlimactic whimper, and I would hate to see them leave this way.
Note: Head Full of Dreams was not released on Spotify so we can’t bring you a playlist of recommendations (go listen to X&Y and Blue Room). Instead A&E has curated a playlist of the best of Coldplay.
Image Source: http://coldplay.com/new-album-a-head-full-of-dreams-out-december-4/
