Coldplay: Ghost Stories — Album Review

Consciously Uncoupled

“And I just got broken, broken into two. Still I call it magic, when I’m next to you.”

Coldplay has always been a band that is being pulled in two directions, with the heartfelt and often sappy side of the band contrasted by an arena filling sound and confidence. This has always kept them in the sweet spot of soaring pop.

Ghost Stories, the band’s sixth full release, is a swing away from that big sound, and even feels like the band may have lost some of the confidence that allowed them to get away with uneven but ambitious soundscapes like Mylo Xyloto and X&Y.

This is a breakup album.

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow “conciously uncoupled” a couple of months ago, but their marriage has apparently been having more downs than ups over the last couple of years. These downs have resulted in Martin truly wearing his heart on his sleeve, with lyrics on Ghost Stories having much less emotional ambiguity than on previous albums.

I’m all for a solid, heartfelt breakup album.

The problem with Ghost Stories is that so much of the music seems tied to the marriage woes of Chris Martin, with seemingly very little input from the rest of the band.

Most of this album could have happened with anyone else playing the instruments in support of Chris Martin. And while people could argue that any Coldplay album isn’t musically complex and could be played by any musician, at least previous albums had standout moments throughout them that highlighted everyone in the band.

Everyone knows Guy Berryman’s swaggering bassline on ‘Paradise’, Jonny Buckland’s soaring guitar in the climax of ‘Fix You’, or Will Champion’s frantic drumming in ‘Clocks’. There is nary a breakout moment on this album for any band member, let alone a moment where the band comes together to blow you away. There is no stadium filling ‘Coldplay sound’. No rush after a big buildup that leaves you feeling satisfied.

Some songs tease those moments, from the ‘only song on this album I’ll play over and over again in the background’ track Magic, the “Bon Iver esque” Midnight, or True Love, a song that ends with Chris Martin sounding completely defeated.

The only track that offers the uplifting, soul cleansing feel of previous Coldplay albums is ‘Sky Full of Stars’, and they had to bring in Avicii, the master of uplifting club bangers, to make it happen.

This whole album shows a remarkable level of restraint and electronic experimentation, which is a positive for the band if it hopes to evolve as they move towards their seventh album.

Ghost Stories is held back by too much musical restraint and self defeating, lyrical sadness to rise up to be a quintessential breakup album. This feels like a transition towards something better, and while it isn’t terrible, it also isn’t that memorable.

I still believe Coldplay can produce magic, but on Ghost Stories, they are broken.

Standout Tracks:

• Magic — you won’t mind playing this on repeat
• Sky Full of Stars — you’re going to hear this everywhere this summer
• Midnight — good for when you’re curling up on the floor in the fetal position and crying

The whole album is available on iTunes for streaming now, and will be released on May 19 in North America.

What do you think of the album?