A COLOURLESS KALEIDOSCOPE
Despite big-name collaborators, the latest EP by the UK stadium-rock quartet suffers from overly cloying production and anodyne songwriting
Throughout the band’s nearly two-decade career, Coldplay have never found themselves in short supply of wideeyed wonder and an unyielding zest for life. Their optimism, oversized and overflowing, is well documented and matched only by the sort of glitzy, spirit-lifting, allpleasing stadium-rock sound they fully mastered on 2015’s A Head Full Of Dreams. Co-produced by the Norwegian hit-making machine Stargate, the album featured collaborations from an eclectic array of the industry’s A-listers, including Avicii, Beyonce, Tove Lo and Noel Gallagher as well as samples from American poet Coleman Barks and Barack Obama.
Two years later, Chris Martin and company have returned with Kaleidoscope, a five-track EP that sees them rustling up whatever was left on the cutting room floor of A Head Full Of Dreams while simultaneously sneaking in a live “Tokyo Remix” version of Something Just Like This, a recent smash hit made in collaboration with lite-EDM duo The Chainsmokers.
The EP kicks things off with All I Can Think About Is You, a rather run-of-the-mill piano ballad paired with equally uninspired, awkward lyrics (“But now, all I can think about is you/ All I can think about is you/ If all that I’m on earth to do/ Is solo, then what a lone poor shoe/ I want to walk in a two”). The following track, the platitudinous Miracles (Someone Special), doesn’t fare any better, despite a guest appearance from hip-hop heavyweight Big Sean. “My father said never give up son/ Just look how good Cassius become,” Martin sings over smooth R&B melody and funky guitar line. “Mohammed, Mahatma, and Nelson/ Not scared to be strong.”
Boasting ambient initiator Brian Eno in its producing and writing credits, the refugee-themed Aliens shimmers along with skittering percussion and un-Earthly electronic flourishes. It’s a pretty good song if you’re willing to overlook the lyrics which, once again, are a little too on-the-nose: “We were hovering without a home/ Millions are UFO/ Hovering in hope some scope tonight … Tell your leader/ Sir or ma’am/ We come in peace/ We mean no harm … Somewhere out there/ In the unknown/ All the ETs are phoning home.”
The EP then comes full circle with Hypnotised, another mawkish piano ballad that stretches unnecessarily over six minutes. “Need a brand-new coat of paint/ Found myself in trouble/ Thinking about what ain’t/ Never gonna be a saint,” he begins in the opening verse. As the song trundles on, we’re treated to the perfunctory string accompaniment followed by a lacklustre outro: “Oh I’m hyp, hypnotised/ Yeah I lift to a permanent high … It was dark/ Now it’s sunrise.”
All things considered, Kaleidoscope doesn’t really add anything new to Coldplay’s discography. All it seems to do is cash in on the massive success of Something Just Like This, which in itself is an overrated bit of EDM posturing. Unless you’re a fervent Coldplay completist, you may want to give this one a pass.