It’s been a good three years since “X&Y” and Chris
Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion are back to enthrall us
with more meditative lyrics, stronger riffs and a “more sexy” side of their
music that we have not seen before.
“Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” is the latest
studio effort from British rock band Coldplay, a highly anticipated album that
the four members began waving alluringly before their fans’ eyes weeks ago,
with the promise of a free single and free tickets to special concerts.
Released on June 12 in the UK
and June 17 in North America, the album is
already climbing up the charts, thus confirming to Martin & Co. that their
return to the music scene has been awaited with enthusiasm by fans.
In late April the band’s website was generously updated to
provide fans with the album’s official artwork, French painter Eugčne
Delacroix‘s “Liberty Leading the People,” and the free release of “Violet
Hill,” the first single off the album.
A video soon followed as have free concert dates at Brixton Academy,
London, Madison
Square Garden
and most recently, in Barcelona.
It was in the Spanish city that Martin and his bandmates
told reporters during a press conference that they found “Viva la Vida” significantly
“more sexy” than 2005’s “X&Y.”
“I think we are definitely more handsome now than we were
three years ago,” Martin quipped, as quoted by Reuters. “I think that's
reflected in our music, it’s much more sexy.”
The frontman has been known to be fidgety and fickle around
reporters, as exemplified by last week’s incident, when he walked out nine
minutes into a pre-recorded interview with the BBC’s Radio 4 arts show Front
Row, simply saying he was “not really enjoying this” and that he did not really
like “having to talk about things.”
Then again, fame has never been easy for anyone, much less
for a timid rock singer whose marriage to Hollywood
A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow makes him a paparazzo magnet.
“X&Y” has sold an estimated 10 million copies around the
world and “Viva la Vida” seems to be
gaining speed, as it sold more than 300,000 copies in just three days in the U.K.
Coldplay worked with renowned producer Brian Eno on their
new studio album, a collaboration drummer Will Champion said encouraged them to
explore new territory. “Brian has this amazing ability to demystify wonderful
music and make it seem very achievable. We weren’t afraid to try anything,” he
told Billboard in April.
The four musicians sang Eno’s praises once more during the Barcelona press conference,
confessing they had hoped “to find someone who had the same effect on us as
Brian Eno did on U2 and David Bowie, and Talking Heads, all these incredible
bands that we love.”
As long as they’re happy with their effort and find it “more
sexy” that the last time they toiled in the studio, loyal fans can only agree
and support them as they always have.
