Coldplay - Music Of The Spheres (2021) Hi Res

During pandemic lockdown, some people baked bread, others took up fostering kittens. Chris Martin, apparently, watched Star Wars. The Coldplay frontman has said that the band's ninth album was partly inspired by the Mos Eisley cantina band and "wonder[ing] what musicians are like across the universe." And honestly, thank god we have a band big enough to be able to afford to take chances like Music of the Spheres, because the results are thrilling. After the spacy intro "Music of the Spheres," opener "Higher Power" is a flat-out dance track, powered by a punchy electro beat, and joyously uplifting. Martin has said "the song is about trying to find the astronaut in all of us, the person that can do amazing things." (Although, at one point, he sings "Drocer nekorb a ekil mi" "I'm like a broken record" in reverse.) It's the first example of the album being a family affair, too, as Martin's daughter Apple delivers the opening lilt. She also has a co-write on "Let Somebody Go," a lovely piano ballad that finds Martin duetting with Selena Gomez; it takes a surprising turn on the bridge, slipping into smooth jazz. Apple's brother Moses joins in on the chorus of "Humankind" (with an altered Stephen Fry on the intro), a supercatchy and energetic collection of bleeps and bloops and "alien" voices, '80s synth and strident acoustic guitar that is going to be awesome to work out to. It's a bit of a throwback to the dance-pop sounds of bands like MGMT circa 2008. It won't surprise you here to find out the record is produced by Max Martin, the man behind slick hits from Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and others. His polished style is a surprising complement to Martin's unpolished rasp and a major asset on songs like "My Universe," a collaboration with BTS performed in English and Korean that cruises a funky groove of ’80s FM pop; it's an earworm we'll all be stuck with for months. "People of the Pride" pushes Coldplay in a new, edgier direction complete with ominous garage-rock guitar and an emo-pop stomp. Curiosity "Biutyful" warps the vocals to sound like a cutesy ET crooning a space-lounge melody. Twinkly "Infinity Sign" incorporates the soccer chant "Ole Ole Ole." The record closes out with one of the most wonderfully grandiose, swing-for-the-stars songs of Coldplay's career. Clocking in at 10 minutes, "Coloratura" is the band's The Dark Side of the Moon moment, weaving in a music box melody, fluttering strings, McCartney piano and spacey Gilmour guitars. It name-checks Galileo's discovery of the Callisto moon and declares,"It's the end of death and doubt and loneliness is out ... Coloratura, the place we dreamed about." (It will be great for planetarium laser shows.) Martin's voice cracks in all the right places, and the idea "In the end it's all about the love you're sending out is so elemental but expressed with such a sense of wonder about and gratitude for the universe, you can’t help but feel a sense of hope.