When Coldplay released their debut album Parachutes, I was young and rather taken by its mood, songwriting, and tonal beauty. The albums that proceeded that debut grew the band's fame into superstardom and everyone became a Coldplay fan -- or made jokes about how you liked Coldplay ("40 Year Old Virgin" anyone?). There seems to be some invisible line that divides bands and groups, and with the release of Coldplay's smash hit "Clocks," they crossed over to the status of "group."
What does that even mean? Maybe I just fashioned these categories in my own mind? Well, for me anyway, it's when a band just seems bigger than anything, bigger than themselves. It's not necessarily related to ego in any way, it's just a status certain bands reach where they become so ingrained in popular culture, so beloved by the masses, that people seem to lose sight of what makes a band so great: the relationship the members share. For the most beautiful, memorable, and meaningful, music that is created is that which is bred in the bond a collection of individuals share with one another. As the great Tom Petty said in Dave Grohl's "Sound City" documentary, "[Music] is all about people relating to each other and doing something that's really from the soul."
This very long introduction is all for "Magic" and "Midnight," two great new tracks that Coldplay has released from their new album, Ghost Stories. I'd be lying if I said I kept up with Coldplay after the release of X & Y, but whatever I caught from the albums that followed didn't really grab me like that first album did. But after hearing "Magic" and "Midnight," I find myself rather swept away. The four London lads sound refreshed, more connected, and more profound. Hear both tracks below.
Ghost Stories
1) Always In My Head
2) Magic
3) Ink
4) True Love
5) Midnight
6) Another's Arms
7) Oceans
8) A Sky Full Of Stars
9) O
Ghost Stories is out May 19 via Parlophone/Atlantic.
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