Releasing their fifth studio album Mylo Xyloto, British pop band Coldplay returns with a new approach to their music. With 14 tracks, this album provides seamless transitions and gives new life to Coldplay, maintaining their popular appeal while still experimenting with different sounds.

Sound/Style
Starting with the track “Mylo Xyloto”, the band creates a nice introduction to the song “Hurts Like Heaven”, setting up an upbeat mood at the start of the album. The subtle synth and clean guitar riffs in the background of the music creates a very atmospheric sound on not only this song, but many of the other tracks such as “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart”. Contrasting their more lively tracks, Coldplay includes in the album very soft, meaningful songs such as “Paradise”, including a strong piano accompaniment and harmonized vocals on portions of the song which engrosses the listener further into the music. The listener can respect the clean vocal abilities of Chris Martin, who provides strong singing and falsettos. Regardless of listener preference, Coldplay provides a solid composition of tracks and blends them well, finishing it off with transition songs such as “M.M.I.X.” which makes the album flow even better.
– 9 out of 10

Lyrics and Writing
Coldplay covers a wide range of topics in the lyrics of their songs. Whether the deceptively upbeat track “Hurts Like Heaven” which expresses leaving a mark on the world against adversity, or a song of being hopeful and being carefree such as “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall”. “Up With The Birds” communicates starting over, fulfilling your dreams, and leaving the past behind. Songs like “U.F.O.” and “Us Against The World” stick to Coldplay’s soft acoustic roots and bring the album back down to earth. Lyrically, the band expresses a positive message and their music parallels this message with beautiful melodies and vibrant instruments. The lyrics are cliche in more songs then one, but their album conveys a good feeling and will be easy to pick up for most listeners.
– 7 out of 10

Impression
At first, this album may come off as another pop album with lots of synth and cliched lyrics. However, if one continues to listen to the songs and delve into the album, they will find meaningful and well-written songs in this well composed album. If the listener chooses to be open to the album, they will realize it creates a nice change in mood from a lot of pop albums. With diverse songs, lyrics, and melodies, Coldplay has written a strong album which can be appreciated by many.
– 7 out of 10

Overall Rating:
7.6 out of 10