I know it's tough burger to compare Coldplay to general tendencies in indie, as they have always had sort of an askew relationship with all the cool shit. Even so, one could say that pathos has had some sort of a revival as of late. Like chillwave, and the fact that everybody are falling on their bums over M83's new album.
I have always had a troubled relationship with unsubstantiated pathos, which easily becomes empty calories. My profound hate for Band of Horses is a good example of that, and look what Muse did to themselves on The Resistance!
Mylo Xyloto seems to be another case of bona fide band gone mainstream, the bad way. Mainstream the good way was what they did on A Rush of Blood To The Head. Mainstream the bad way, meanwhile, is when it constantly hits you like a jackhammer, how much this album smells of commercialism and an absolute void of new creative ideas. Just listen to the four-on-the-floor beats that are nauseatingly present on this record, as foreboded by the ominous lead single 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall' (oh, dear, how touching!), and, to draw the parallel backwards, by the hideous title track off 2008's Viva La Vida.
Mylo Xyloto is a daunting affair to look at, with carnevalesque artwork and a 14 tune strong tracklist, but three of these tracks are less than a minute long, and none clock in at above 5 minutes. All right, track length isn't necessarily a indicator of quality, but this sure suggests the aforementioned creative void.
I can live with 'Hurts Like Heaven' as a nice, feel-good opener, even if it's as musically nutritious as the portion of mac and cheese I just ate. But 'Paradise'? Holy fucking Christ, what is this?! The melody is as bad as anything, the lyrics are complete nonsense, and the music is utterly boring.
I guess melody is the main theme on this record, or rather, lack of melody is. There's nothing that really sticks with you after listening to it, perhaps except for 'Major Minus', which is one of the few strong tracks, along with 'Us Against The World' (again, oh dear!) and 'Up With The Birds', which are pretty, sound a bit like something off X&Y or A Rush of Blood..., but still utterly forgettable. Then there's the Rihanna collab 'Princess of China', which, sorry, wasn't a good idea. It's not a question of bridging rock music and mainstream pop, it is a perennial pseudo rock band becoming mainstream, again, the bad way. It's not two talented musicians joining forces, it's not art. It's a money machine, and it's no advantage that the song sucks for real either.
I know it's nice with all the $$$, but really, if there's so little creative juice left in the tank, guys, it's OK to call it quits. LCD Soundsystem did so, and so did The White Stripes. Parachutes and A Rush of Blood... speak for themselves, many were hard on X&Y, but it wasn't as bad as people make it, and Viva La Vida actually was a pretty decent try in the direction of inventing a bit of a wheel. Mylo Xyloto is as bullshit as the title suggests. Coldplay have gone from being a humble middle-of-the-road band with stellar melodies and lyrics, to being a middle-of-the-road band trying to sound grand, but they fail, and fall hard on their little asses with this record. Back to the drawing board.
