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If first impressions are everything, then consider "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" a CD your boom box will absolutely be in love with when it's released this month.
From the eye-popping Eugène Delacroix cover art to the pleading synth-piano of the disc's closing hidden track - "The Escapist" - Coldplay have assembled another existentialist page-turner.
Like every other Coldplay record, "Viva la Vida" flits between soaring U2-like guitar riffs and slick power ballads, full of frontman Chris Martin's unafraid questioning. Yet, thanks to avant-garde producer Brian Eno, all of it sounds like something they've never done before.
"Yes" and "Strawberry Swing" saddle country swagger to the band's anthemic vibe, while cascading keys and pulsating drums delineate "Lovers in Japan" the disc's de facto stadium dancer. "42" starts as a straight ballad before brawny lines of the "Speed of Sound"-variety intercede.
On 2005's "X&Y," the band's sound was carefully constructed, but here, there's a sense that Coldplay want to challenge the listener. Snippets of the album's 10 tracks plumb the foursome's well-worn emotive gloss. But more often than not, the music is full of fresh vibrancy. From the piercing beats of "Lost!" to the streaking strings on the disc's title track, there's no filler on "Viva la Vida;" just plenty of welcome ambition.
After hearing a preview of the album last week at the Spoke Club in Toronto, here's what you're in for when the record is released June 17th.
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1. Life in Technicolor - The CD kicks off with a shimmering instrumental opener. With echoing keys that melt into chattering guitars, the track teases like it wants to burst into a full-blown rocker, but instead settles into the flashbulb flirt the band can use to stoke audiences when they hit the road.
2. Cemeteries of London - Flamenco flavoured handclaps, Jonny Buckland's staccato riffs and Martin's breezy "la-la-las" and "na-na-nas" hide what is lyrically the album's grimmest track. Still, the ingredients act as a nice atmospheric starter.
3. Lost! - Following the straightforwardness of "What If" from "X&Y," Martin gets direct with his listeners. "Just because I'm losing/Doesn't mean I'm lost," he reassures himself as mesmerizing percussive hooks and velvety electric piano weave a hypnotic tapestry in the background.
4. 42 - Philosophy, existence, the afterlife - these are wild concepts for most pop stars. But I love how the group shamelessly brood over God and humanity in this song. Retaining the band's familiar piano rock sound, Martin isn't having any fun as he meditates on the shortness of time ("Those who are dead are not dead/They're just living in my head"), but as a chilled guitar line breaks into a frantic run he achieves an almost gospel vibe: "You didn't get to heaven/ But you made it close."
5. Lovers in Japan/ Reign of Love - Slippery keys and buzzing drums get this fantastic stadium dancer going. And just when things are getting interesting, the quartet dial down the noise, huddling around the campfire with Martin's whispers of "I can't let it go" providing a fitting coda.
6. Yes (Chinese Sleep Chant) - Billowy riffs and splashes of strings noodle their way through this Africanized bit of country. Swerving around the humourless, "I'm so tired of this loneliness," Buckland indulges in a bit of Edge-style shredding near the end.
7. Viva la Vida - Spastic beats and clenched violins make this a perfect sing-along for hucksters over at Apple. But the sinewy guitar and mid-tempo bass sliding all over this majestic listen make me think this will be pretty darn irresistible come concert time.
8. Violet Hill - This is perhaps the best single Coldplay could have used to summarize the new record. Beefy percussion, streaking synth and grandiose Queen-esque flourishes show off a band brimming with newfound confidence.
9. Strawberry Swing - Slap this one on during one of those early-morning summer drives through cottage country. Country zest is sprinkled between whispering synths and Martin's unabashed "It's such a perfect day." The handclap end is the cherry on the cake.
10. Death and All His Friends (The Escapist) - Don't let the title fool you: These boys aren't going quietly into the night. A drizzly piano opening sizzles into jagged chords as Martin laments, "I don't want to follow/Death and all of his friends." Before it's over, the band's wall of sound collapses onto itself, wobbly bleeps urging you to immediately hit the rewind button.
Coldplay's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" is in stores June 17th.