Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto Reads Well By Dale Johnson In a 2009 interview, Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin set an elaborate scene for their then-upcoming album Mylo Xyloto involving gang members, a cybertronic dystopia, and forbidden love. Two years later, it’s hard for listeners to find that story, but it does provide a new explanation for the band’s revisited electro-synth focus. Even without a heart wrenching plot, Coldplay’s 5th studio release is doubtless a narration as songs move in and out of one another smoothly, supported by a handful of transitional tracks peppered throughout. These shifts help the album progress through the metamorphic stages present—fast-paced and hook-heavy, somber bass hits, lofty and contemplative—but it’s easy to wonder what would have happened if the tender guitar plucking at the end of the crooning and upbeat “U.F.O.” could have been extended beyond its fifteen seconds. The lead single, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall,” is one of the catchiest pulls in the album. Released five months before Mylo Xyloto, the track still manages to stand out on the full disk and is filled with Coldplay’s usual bouncing laser-light-show energy that moves it cleanly from performance arena to radio. It makes sense that “Teardrop” would take the lead, it’s one of the only songs that is fully packaged with no extended ending or introduction. Of course, a 48-second pre-track “M.M.I.X.” was thrown onto the album for good measure. The hardest number to dissect is the duet with Rihanna, “Princess of China.” Her presence on the track is one of the album’s more off-the-wall choices; the result is innocent enough, but falls just short of innovative. Through the track’s electronic army cadence and vocal chants, it sounds like Rihanna is constantly adjusting to the band’s musical style. Her vocal contribution to the Coldplay-written chorus—“I could’ve been a princess/You’d be a king/Could’ve had a castle/And worn a ring”—listens as happily distinct however, and will likely push the pop-driven track to a single release. The song is admittedly catchy; after a few replays, you forget about wondering why it exists in the first place. “Princess of China” exemplifies Coldplay’s attempt to give Mylo Xyloto a different feeling than their previous albums, a feeling that is largely rooted in a holistic experience. It’s hard to imagine any of the tracks pushing as far as their massively successful prior single from 2008, “Viva La Vida,” but the album seems to concern itself more with cohesiveness than creating one stand-alone success, which may be for the best. A straight-through play of Mylo Xyloto’s implicit story is the way to go, musical interludes included. If you’re in a hurry though, a good enough experience can be gained from the Cliff’s Notes.