Words: Jack Parker
2014 is going to be a tough year for Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin. Following 2011’s massive album Mylo Xyloto and even bigger world tour, things couldn’t seem to get any better for the Devonshire four-piece. However, just last month Martin announced that he and his long-term wife Gwyneth Paltrow had separated. This separation was building up for quite a while, and this is definitely evident in the lyrical content of the band’s 6th album Ghost Stories, out May 19. Back in February, the group unleashed the electronically swirling Midnight and R’n’B-tinged Magic upon us, and now the band have revealed A Sky Full of Stars as the next single to be taken from the album.
Co-produced by Avicii, A Sky Full of Stars sees the band yet again explore new territory, namely EDM. Opening piano chords accompany Martin’s emotional vocals as percussion builds up to a drop which wouldn’t be out of place at Tomorrowland festival, as opposed to Coldplay’s usual festival hunting grounds such as Glastonbury. Although its heavy Avicii influence is clear, we can still hear the Coldplay influence with Jonny Buckland’s guitar lines during the drop. Apart from that, it doesn’t sound very much like Coldplay, which is rather disappointing. It’s a decent song and it shows the band heading for a new direction yet again, but it just doesn’t fully hit the mark in the way Midnight and Magic did (A Sky Full of Stars would’ve been better off as an Avicii featuring Chris Martin track).
3/5
Ghost Stories is out on May 19 through Parlophone Records
