Mylo Xyloto Album Review

Mylo Xyloto Album Review

I like Coldplay; I have always been a fan of the songs that are played on the radio but I will admit that I do not own any of their albums, until now.  Purchasing an album named Mylo Xyloto from Coldplay is somewhat expected coming from such an unordinary band.  According to Yahoo Music, Chris Martin gave up the meaning, which is that Mylo is a good name (ok, if you say so) and Xyloto is a made up word for Xylophone toes since music comes from your fingers and toes.  I don’t really care for the title, however; I like that it came from a creative place and that it has meaning for the band.  And, that is one thing that I really like about Coldplay.  They make music for themselves, not only for us. 

The Track listing includes:
1. Mylo Xyloto
2.  Hurts Like Heaven
3.  Paradise
4. Charlie Brown
5. Us Against the World
6. MMIX
7. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall
8. Major Minus
9. UFO
10. Princess of China
11. Up in Flames
12. A Hopefull Transmission
13. Don’t Let it Break Your Heart
14. Up with the Birds

First is the title track, Mylo Xyloto.  It is only :45 long so it is an intro to the album.  It starts as a sound scape and then escalates in volume to the end transitioning in to the next track. 

Hurts Like Heaven is very electronic but not in a bad way.  I like the melody and the beat.  I just don’t like how the instruments overshadow the vocals a bit but I imagine that was the sound they were going for.  This song is very upbeat.  It reminds me of viva la vida in that it just makes you feel good and perhaps want to dance wherever you are.  I had to look up the lyrics since I could not really understand them as the song was going.  They are very good, very Coldplay I might say.  This song does not disappoint. 

The second single is Paradise.  Paradise has a long intro but it is very pleasing.  The lyrics are clear and nice.  I especially like the chorus.  The instruments compliment the vocals very nicely.  The song does not sound overproduced even though it is very electronic.  It has a very similar sound to Hurts Like Heaven but manages to have a uniqueness that is very nice. 

Charlie Brown opens with a nice guitar lick and another long intro.  It has very good lyrics but I did not see the meaning of the title.

Us Against the World  has a long intro too.  You might say that this is the first slow song on the album.  The vocals are very predominate and it is an acoustic song compared with the previous tracks.  I am not sure I like the chorus.  I think it drags the song.  And I don’t like the electric guitar lick.  And there are a few badly sung notes. 

MMIX is a very short interlude.  It serves to transition from the slow song back into a faster electronic tempo.  There is not anything going on at all.

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall is the first single off the album.  This song begins with a synth and then an acoustic guitar comes in and then an electric guitar too.  There is a heavy base drum on the down beats which makes the beat very club like.  I am not sure I would have made this the first single, maybe the second.  There are much more approachable songs on the album.  The vocals are a lot of long notes and it gets a bit old.   However, I do like the ending.  It was a pleasant surprise.  It was needed because so far the songs seem to follow the same formula.  Long intro, verse lyrics and then end, makes for a boring album but this spiced things up a bit. 

Major Minus starts with a strong guitar strumming that has just a hint of old school country.  But the song quickly changes it's tune to a rock song.  I don’t like the melody of the verses or the chorus.  How many times are you going to have OOO’s as the beginning of the chorus?  I think there is too much going on in this song.  It starts acoustic, then tries to be a rock song but in the middle it goes back to a sound scape and then it ends as a rock song.  Let’s hope the album picks up. 

UFO is another slow song.  It has good lyrics and a nice guitar accompaniment.  Its in the slow songs that you can tell Martin’s faults as a singer.  But hey, there is not perfect singer in the world and he knows how to work his voice and he is very good at doing what he does.  You know I actually like this song.  His vocals add to the vulnerability of the lyrics.  I just don’t like the ending.  I am OOO’ed out.  I would have preferred the same guitar that began the song to end it.

Princess of China is the song featuring Rihanna begins very much like a trance song but it keeps a balance between that and a rock song.  The sound is a bit aggressive but dreamlike too; the track reminds me of what a Faithless song might sound like.  Rihanna and Coldplay are an interesting mix, but I am not sure that they compliment each other.  This album is supposed to be a concept album about a love story so I suppose she plays the woman in the story. But, the best part about this track is the arrangement and instrumentation.  Plus, you can barley hear the vocals which makes me think that they didn’t really want to highlight them but even still you can sense the pain of the song.  

Up in Flames is opposite to the song that preceded it.  I think this is the first time you can noticeably hear a piano but this natural sound is complimented with an electronic beat.  You know I don’t really like the drums.  I think it takes away from the emotion that the song could have but instead all you hear is the rim tap.  Otherwise, I think it would have been a very beautiful song. 

A Hopefull Transmission is another short transition song.  These songs make sense listening to the album from beginning to end but I don’t think that most people do that anymore.  They listen to their iPods and I think that these short songs that do not have much content would be really annoying for those listeners.  Which makes me ask the question: why not just tack these songs to the end of the previous track or the beginning of the next track?  I mean, the songs all ready have long intros anyways.  Another few seconds would not make a difference. 

Don’t Let it Break Your Heart starts with a burst of sound.  Which isn’t bad except for the cymbals.  I don’t like them in the chorus.  And, again you can’t really hear the words.  It just sounds like he is just saying a few words really long.  Artists like to do that now and I think that drowning out the vocals has its place but for a band that always has such good lyrics, why would you want to do that? 

Up with the Birds is that last song on the album.  Its starts slow with predominate vocals.  The arrangement is a sound scape in the beginning but then a guitar adds in.  Then the song transitions and sounds like the other faster songs on the album.  I am happy that the song picked up because when I heard the beginning, I liked it but was disappointed at the choice for the last song.  You want to go out with a bang and the beginning was not a bang.  At the end of the song, everything fades to a long piano playing a sweet riff and that is how the album closes leaving the listener feeling good and hopeful.

The whole album has a kind of hopeful-electronic sound.  It looses some focus in the middle but I suppose that’s what will happen in an album that’s 14 songs long. This album is everything you would expect from a Coldplay album, great lyrics and great music.  I give the album 4/5 stars.  Download Paradise and Hurts Like Heaven (too bad all the songs don’t sound like those two). The album can be purchased here.