Coldplay’s highly-anticipated tenth album Moon Music has finally landed and it’s a playful, collaboratively rich offering that proves why these guys are still mainstays of pop-rock.
This time around, they’re poised for cultural currency, fighting to stay relevant in an industry that has changed pretty drastically since the heydays of Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head. Surprisingly, they do well to side-step the white-man-holding-a-guitar trope, instead diversifying their sound, as they jump on trends like Afrobeats and neo-soul.
The chart-topping single “WE PRAY” featuring Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna & TINI is a sincere meeting of worlds. Hip-hop has never felt so sanitary, but it works in an endearing way. Chris Martin gives space to his collaborators, and when it’s his turn to take the mic he does so with humility.
Rather than appropriate these very foreign genres, he cultivates a space where organic musical dialogues can happen. The same can be said for “GOOD FEELiNGS” featuring Ayra Starr. Martin’s crooning vocals sound just the same as they would have fifteen years ago, such that these collaborations are nothing but good-natured, and will no doubt appeal to a wider fanbase.
June’s double MTV VMAs-nominated single “feelslikeimfallinginlove” reached number one across global charts, with trademark euphoric tinges of retro electronica. Over the years Coldplay really have been chasing that feeling of pure bliss, and they get pretty close here.
Their live show is testament to the way music can make you feel – say what you want about Coldplay, but put them in an arena and something truly magical happens.
In tandem with their ground-breaking sustainability measures for touring – which have so far produced 59% less CO2e emissions than any previous stadium tour – the band have gone to great lengths to make the physical release of Moon Music as sustainable as possible.
This is the world’s first album released as a 140g EcoRecord rPET LP, with each copy made from 9 recycled PET-plastic bottles recovered from post-consumer waste.
Additionally, the band have collaborated with long-time partners The Ocean Cleanup to create an additional format: the Notebook Edition LP. The rPET for this edition comprises 70% river plastic, intercepted by The Ocean Cleanup from the Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala, and prevented from reaching the Gulf of Honduras and the Atlantic Ocean.
The standard CD editions of Moon Music will be the world’s first to be released on EcoCD, created from 90% recycled polycarbonate, sourced from post-consumer waste streams.
Offering some insight into the album, Martin says, “I think what this album is about is a response to struggling with all the conflict within oneself, within myself, and also all the conflict outside, and working out what the best response is. And I think what Moon Music is trying to say is maybe love is the best response.”
In fact, a lot of the tracks on Moon Music feel particularly well-tailored to the stage, with an anthemic quality that soars. This is their greatest achievement here, and with only two more records left before Martin has promised to bow out of music once and for all, it’s hard to imagine where they might go next. Higher and happier than this seems near-impossible.
