Chris Martin bares his broken heart on bland new album

Coldplay

Ghost Stories

Rating: C+

It’s sadly undeniable — Ghost Stories is Chris Martin’s breakup letter to Gwyneth Paltrow. One could try and ignore this influence, but Martin has made it nearly impossible with analbum of sappy love songs.

The blatant love sonnets aren’t what makes the latest attempt by a normally convincing Coldplay a letdown. Rather, it’s the heavy reliance on synth and beat-driven songs that makes it seem like the band is pandering to a massive fanbase. 

“A Sky Full of Stars” is the best example of the band’s attempt to please the public. The dewy, baby-faced Avicii must have mesmerized the band enough to include him on the track — a publicity move that plays off the Swedish DJ’s recent popularity. The song is off-key, overly synthesized and embarrassing for a band of Coldplay’s caliber.  

“Midnight” is similar, with auto-tuned vocals that produce a robotic and flat song. It wallows with tired lyrics, repetitive chords and a stale flatness that makes the name somewhat of a misnomer — the word “midnight” strikes up images of magic, mystery and a depth of quiet solitude. It does not bring to mind auto-tuned vocals and bland lyrics — unless of course you spend your nights clubbing.  Even then, this song would put the most energetic night-owl to sleep.

Aside from the burnout tracks pumped up on electronic overdose, there are a few songs that attempt to break free from the mold.

The star of the album is the lead single “Magic,” a catchy song that retains Coldplay’s raw vocals with a simple beat and steady backdrop. While some may roll their eyes at the radio takeover, “Magic” is probably the most memorable song on the album. There’s enough variety through its nearly five-minute duration that even though it may be overplayed on the airwaves, it’s still an enjoyable, mellow and hopeful song. 

“Ink” is also not bad, though the lyrics leave something to be desired. For some reason there’s an almost comical naivety to Martin’s cry of “Got a tattoo/said ‘together through life’” followed by “Got a tattoo and the pain’s alright.” It’s as if a teenager broke up with his first girlfriend but still cherishes the cheesy tattoo he got to cement their time together on his skin. Aside from this awkward insight, the song is surprisingly good, with a catchy backdrop and rhythm that is different from Coldplay’s old music. 

The song that sounds the most like old Coldplay is “Ocean.” There is a sparseness and rawness to the song that is strongly reminiscent of their song “Lovers in Japan/ Reign of Love” from Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends. It has an off-center and touching simplicity that’s expounded upon by Martin’s cooing and cracked voice. 

Though “Ocean” carries on the tradition of what made Coldplay unique, and “Magic” imparts some sparkle, one thing is for sure: The Coldplay of old, with Chris Martin’s warbling but pleasantly pitchy voice has been deftly killed off by heavy electronic riffs and the disk-spinning fingers of Avicii. 

Hopefully this over reliance on synthetic sounds is merely a result of Martin and Paltrow’s “conscious uncoupling” and will retain no stronghold on future releases.