This week, my favorite track was from Coldplay. Yes, THAT Coldplay. Look, I’m not a hater–in the grand scheme of soft pop-rock groups, Coldplay is one of the least offensive. Despite being long removed from what I believe to be their heyday in the early and mid 2000s, their records still tend to have a handful of enjoyable songs. “Coloratura” is the first song of theirs in a long while that is not just good–it’s great.
It’s a bit easy to get overexcited when a group like this has an unexpected return to form, so let’s keep expectations in check. This song is not that innovative or groundbreaking. “Coloratura” is pure Pink Floyd worship, blending spacy progressive rock with Coldplay’s familiar brand of piano pop. If you didn’t like Coldplay before this, this is unlikely to make you a convert, but they do a pretty good job at what they were going for here, and it does feel like a breakthrough for the band.
The production on this song is as high quality as you would expect from a band with Coldplay’s profile. The song is full of lush orchestral touches, such as some gorgeous harp near the beginning, and plenty of strings later on in the song. I have no complaints to make as far as the way this song sounds. I’m mostly just glad we seem to finally be completely removed from their rather mediocre elecropop phase.
If I had to nitpick the songwriting, I’d say they could have done a better job of trimming the fat from the song. Some sections, like the rather long instrumental introduction, feel tacked on upon repeated listens despite sounding nice on their own. The lyrics are appropriate to the theme of the song, naming off celestial objects to conjure images of space travel (“And up there in the heavens, the explorers who’ve all gathered by balloon saw the world turn, through Voyager, Callisto, Calliope, Betelgeuse, the Neon Moons.“). It does its job, although I wouldn’t say the lyrics are particularly profound or memorable.
What’s so good about “Coloratura” then? To me, what makes this song stand out is the composition and arrangement. The chord progression feels meticulously thought out, with each change giving me a feeling of being led somewhere new. For a monster 10-minute song such as this, they do a great job of building up to its climax, and then winding things down in a way that feels very natural and satisfying.
Perhaps the best compliment that I can give to “Coloratura” is that it really doesn’t feel like it’s 10 minutes long. It’s so successful at putting me into the trance-like state of drift that it’s trying to convey that it just makes time melt away. I’m not sure what this means for their upcoming ninth album, since previous single, the 80s-inspired “Higher Power,” is a very different beast from “Coloratura.” I suppose we’ll see when it’s released in October.
Amped! 