Coldplay
X & Y

From the P of Parachutes...

to the P of Paradise.

The outer shell is always the same, what changes is not the container, but the content. X & Y is equidistant from the two "extreme" poles, although it definitely falls within the artistic period of the early Coldplay (2000-2005), a work that serves to close the circle (and it's not just my opinion...) of a time span not devoid of media attention and success.

Ultimately, they are still the same as those with the colorful globe on a black background, these are just their revised and corrected 2.0 release. Less essential, more grandiose and substantial. What they lose in simplicity, they gain in greater heterogeneity.

Parachutes had a couple of hit songs for sure, but over the long run, it was an overly homogeneous album built almost entirely on a single instrument.

Here, instead, we have a fuller sound where the band's classic framework is enriched with organs, strings, synths, and electricity much more present than in the past, adding that extra touch of variety that was previously missing.

If "Fix You" is perhaps the most overrated song in the entire career of Chris Martin and company (stadium-choir finale excluded), tracks like the opener "Square One" with that indescribable unsettling quality that opens into an enveloping chorus before electric guitars take control, finally being softened by a gentle acoustic outro, show us that the quality hasn't diminished.

"What If" is the classic piano ballad, while the third track "White Shadows" deserves special mention as it merited being released as a single, combining freshness and catchiness.

A triumph of violins dominates the slightly psychedelic atmosphere of the title track, while with "A Message" and its gentle tranquility, we are taken back five years, while "Low" raises the bar even higher.

Good album, perhaps missing something to elevate it even further, but "X&Y" remains an album for all occasions and seasons. Not complicated by any means, linearity and pop for once don't just mean banality.

Rating 7.5