2024-10-08 14:27:24
The British band Coldplay is releasing their tenth studio album, Moon Music, this Friday and announces in advance that only two more will follow. According to the frontman of one of the most popular groups in the world, Chris Martin, this does not mean that Coldplay will stop touring.
As the DPA agency writes, 47-year-old Chris Martin only decided that the band, founded in 1997 in London, would not record more than 12 records. “The Beatles also only released twelve. Twelve and a half if you count Yellow Submarine. Nobody could need more music from us than the Beatles,” he argued on CBS television.
In an interview for the Apple Music service, he mentioned that the reggae singer Bob Marley ended up with a similar number of records, while the writer JK Rowling published only seven books about Harry Potter, based on which eight films were made. The musician considers it important that artists are able to limit themselves and not always publish everything they create. “Thanks to this, we already have the quality bar set so high that almost no song will fall below it. Which is great. Instead of continuing to follow the rut, we are trying to improve,” he added.
But he emphasized that after the release of the 12th album, Coldplay would not end completely. The group could continue to perform as before. “Coldplay will always exist in some form,” he declares.
In the interview, he explicitly mentions the possibility that bandmates such as guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion, for example, could continue under a different banner. “If we decided to do some other form of creative collaboration besides touring with Coldplay, it could be a side project or a compilation of things we didn’t have time to finish,” suggests Chris Martin.
The new album, called Moon Music, which is released this Friday, is the first after a three-year hiatus. Like the last one, it was produced by Swedish pop hitmaker Max Martin.
We’re not going in the rut, say Coldplay before the release of a new record. | Photo: Anna Lee
The electronic music producer Jon Hopkins, the Nigerian singer Burna Boy, the British rapper Little Simz or the twenty-two-year-old singer Elyanna, who is partially of Palestinian origin, perform as guests.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, the new album follows the previous record, which is translated as Music of the Spheres, with a kind of all-embracing cosmic aesthetic and spiritual undertone.
“He has downright intergalactic ambitions, leaves a lot of space in his music and knows no boundaries emotionally. But while other pop or soul singers have imagined going into space to escape from this world, Chris Martin is heading there with the goal of finding himself,” writes Rolling Stone.
The group recorded part of the music during the summer in the Spanish port city of Tarifa, from where they went to concerts in Europe and always returned to the local studio. The second single, called We Pray, was presented by Coldplay live in June, when they were the stars of the British Glastonbury festival for the fifth time.
“Among other things, the single is available for purchase on ecoCD or recycled vinyl records, which contain five different versions of the song,” said Martin Kysilka from the Czech branch of Warner Music. She distributes the album.
Coldplay are currently in their fourth year on tour. | Photo: Anna Lee
EcoCD is the designation for a new way of producing classic CDs mainly from recycled polycarbonate. The group has long drawn attention to issues related to climate change and, for example, tries to reduce its carbon footprint when traveling around the world.
The new album Moon Music wants to set new standards of sustainability. “Each LP will be made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, nine per record,” added Martin Kysilka.
British media began publishing reviews this week. The Guardian gave the novel three stars out of five. According to him, the songs are so epic that listeners will feel as if they have climbed Mount Everest. The songs, full of optimistic messages about the unlimited potential of humanity, have been freed from any political messages, but they are brought down by phrase-like lyrics and ambient orchestral passages, according to the reviewer.
Even more uncompromising is the British newspaper Independent, which even gave the newcomer only one out of five stars. According to him, Coldplay concerts like the one at Glastonbury tend to be an extraordinary experience and show, but the same cannot be said about their recordings. The new one is said to be flashy, too ambient and weak in terms of lyrics. “The songs are full of banalities, clichés and phrases,” complains the author.
From 2021, Coldplay are on a tour called after the previous album Music of the Spheres World Tour.
Although his last concerts will not take place until September 2025 at London’s Wembley Stadium, the string of performances has already grossed over a billion dollars, surpassing the recent record of the singer Taylor Swift. No other artist or group has ever broken the billion dollar mark.
Video: Single We Pray from Coldplay’s new album
Singers Elyanna and Tini, rapper Little Simz and African star Burna Boy guest in the track We Pray from Coldplay’s new album. | Video: Parlophone Records