Coldplay: Prospekt's March EP

Hate Coldplay all you want but you cannot disagree with the fact that they once made great music.

Parachutes emanated beauty and creativity in every direction, solidifying their position in British music. A Rush Of Blood took them to the arenas, creating hit after memorable hit and placed the Coldplay name next to the greats. Then X & Y came along and did the same kind of thing…just less brilliant.

Then came whispers of Viva La Vida Or Death… which reignited the diminishing interest in the band. But interesting as it was, it didn’t reach the dazzling heights that previous efforts managed.

So here we are then, the post album EP of studio floor leftovers.

The Prospekt’s March EP is a twenty seven minute handful of everything that once made Coldplay great and everything that Coldplay do wrong stretched across eight songs. Ridiculously epic pop to genuinely heartfelt ballads, nothing feels sacred anymore. Everything’s sitting uncomfortably together, jostling for more space.

Postcards From Far Away at 48 seconds, deserves half of the EP’s duration, just for its startling beauty. It shows that all you need is a piano to make captivating music. Glass of Water follows and is epic Coldplay on autopilot but just a little louder. Where’s the originality? Over at Elbow’s camp, doing a much better job as well.

Chris Martin has lost his innocence; he’s older now, but instead of growing on that, it leaves a sense of emptiness, making us wish for the younger Chris, the Chris that knew when to stop. The voice is too confident, the sound is too happy. Even the song Rainy Day is as jovial as an infant on Tubby Custard.

Lost+ is another spin on the original Lost! track and sounds as good as it always sounded except this time round the third verse is handed to Jay-Z himself. I laughed aloud upon his introduction but surprisingly, The Hova manages to pull it off. It’s almost a highlight for this fact alone.

Last song Now My Feet Won’t Touch The Ground is another beautiful acoustic piece and ends the EP on a touchingly peaceful note. It’s a throwback to The Blue Room EP (their very first) and would sit wonderfully tucked away somewhere on that exact record.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, there’s just the notion that, if I want to hear better Coldplay than this, I’ll go back a few years. There’s no need for this material, it’s just adding to a slowly declining discography.

If you like Coldplay, then go grab this EP, it’ll do you fine. But if you’ve decided on moving on in the world, I’d let this one slip.