Coldplay has now revealed five of the nine songs on “Ghost Stories,” and it”s safe to say, based on those tracks, that the album out May 19, is the group”s most atmospheric sonically. Hazy synths inform all of the songs we”ve heard so far and there”s a dream-like quality to all of them, although new single, “Sky Full of Stars,” released today, is definitely the most commercial and dance-y track so far.
In “Stars,” Chris Martin vows that he doesn't care if his love tears his heart apart because she is so full of love and light and the brightest star in the firmament. “You're such a gift,” he sings. The song breaks into EDM at various points but not in such an overwhelming way so that it's going to feel dated by the end of summer like all electropop songs from three years ago feel now. Instead, the EDM bounce fits in perfectly with Martin's usual keyboard touch, although, as it turns out, it's the band's buddy Avicii playing piano on the track.
Martin visited the BBC Radio 1″s Zane Lowe Monday (28) night and also played portions of “Always In My Head,” while the two discussed the creation of the woozy song, Martin”s sleep issues (the first line is “I think of you/I haven”t slept), and how he”s made friends with the ghosts in his life through the help of a Sufi instructor, who taught him to sit with hit feelings and experiences and let them “alchemize.”
That process bled over into the writing of “Ghost Story. “Most of the lyrics on this album are very much, though they are edited and finessed, are flowing through,” Martin says. The album deals with his split, or “conscious uncoupling” from Gwyneth Paltrow, but told Lowe that even though the set started as a break-up album, it ended up being an album about “trying to grow up.”
Though she”s not that audible on the portion of the track below, Martin added that his daughter, Apple, sings on “Always in My Head.”
Hear a portion of the song and Martin”s explanation here.
During his interview with Lowe, Martin confessed to being a One Directioner, full stop. “Their songs are great. I”m saying One Direction are brilliant and I”m not kidding.” He also predicts that the band will stay together and none of the lads will break off to go solo. “I think they appreciate their chemistry.”