On the 16th of May 2014, Coldplay finally graced the shop shelves again with the release of their 6th studio album, Ghost Stories. As a long term Coldplay fan, I was looking forward to hearing fresh material of theirs and like most of their albums, this one was more heartfelt than ever, following the confirmation of Chris Martin's split from Gwyneth Paltrow.The clear message of the album is about having the capacity to love and as Chris says in the Zane Lowe interview (which I highly recommend watching) "you've got to open yourself up to love and if you really do, of course it will be painful at times, but then it will be great at some point." Coldplay have this wonderful ability to tie in words and music so smoothly and this is heard as each song progresses into one another. Without sounding too cliche, the album tells a story with each song being a different chapter of Chris' emotional state and in a way I felt honoured to be listening to something which exposed such true and raw emotion.
The opening track 'Always In My Head' starts the album off with dreamy synths before the first line of Chris' smooth vocals, I felt as though this set the mood of the album as the message of the songs always revolve back to this feeling of reflectiveness. As much as I love the mellowness of this song, there is a good mix on the album of the upbeat feel good songs compared to the stripped back, softer songs. One of the singles from this album is Magic, with a catchy bass line, it has great rhythm and the electronic elements included were really refreshing to hear as it wasn't typical of Coldplay's style. Probably my favourite track of the album is Ink, which also has this catchy melody with a classic pop beat but what makes it my favourite above Magic is the atmospheric stabs and shimmers with the powerful chorus.
As much as these up tempo songs are beautiful to listen to in the light of the sun, when you properly listen to the lyrics it reminds you of the underlying sadness of the album. You're reminded of this in the more hypnotic songs such as True Love, Another's Arms and Midnight, which stripped back vocals and synths have an immersive effect. I also found this with the pulse that runs throughout the track 'Oceans', it reminds me of the sea's tide washing in and out to shore. This is perfect to listen to at night time, especially with headphones so you can become completely lost in the song, that's the best feeling for me, being able to lose yourself in the music.
What I saw as the climax of the album though, is the single 'A Sky Full Of Stars'. They collaborated with Swedish producer Avicii for this, explaining the dance fuelled piano and anthem chorus, but they kept it Coldplay with the sentimental lyrics and guitar riffs. I feel like this track is the final release of all emotion from Chris Martin and my favourite thing is seeing him dancing when they perform it live, (it genuinely makes me smile like the cheshire cat). To top the album off is the last song, 'O'. It's hard to explain how simply beautiful this track is, but for me what makes it so special is the faultless vocals, and Chris' daughter Apple and son Moses singing at the end in the sound scape. My favourite line "fly on right through, maybe one day I can fly with you" with the compelling piano is the icing on the cake and makes it for me, one of the best songs on the album.
Overall, I find Ghost Stories hard to fault as I think Coldplay are so faultless already with their chemistry as a band and also as individual musicians. But I truly think this is possibly their best album to date and even if you're not a Coldplay fan I would give it a listen so you can at least appreciate the craftsmanship that was needed to create it.
Hannah Jolley
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