Coldplay: Prospekt's March EP

The most immediately appealing record they've released since their magical, torch-lit debut Parachutes, gently riffing on the globe-trotting tablas of the mother record.

"A march into the heart of lightness"... Prospekt's March

This eight-track stopgap set gathers recordings from the Viva La Vida sessions that Chris Martin quips he was "shy about putting out" in case they "might be considered too catchy". His faux-humility routine is in real need of a rest. Prospekt's March may just be the tightest - and the most immediately appealing - record this band have released since their magical, torch-lit debut Parachutes, gently riffing on the globe-trotting tablas of the mother record, however feeling distinctly its own too. This is no obligatory fourth-quarter expanded edition, but a complete Coldplay production - complete with lyrics that have the full force of Martin's emotional sincerity behind them, yet still come off sounding like imagistic haikus. Case in point on the otherwise sublime, Brian Eno-helmed Glass of Water: "The hollowest of halos/Is no halo at all." Though I defy you to not be swept up in its soaring, piano-borne chorus. Elsewhere, Jay-Z's verse on Lost+ pays forward his friend in the loveliest way possible. And then, as if in response, Martin sings "I love it when you come over to my house," over Rainy Day's jittery beat. I don't think I've heard him either so playful or so hopeful before - and the mood is infectious. Even the album closer Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground, which sounds like the kind of acoustic weeper that should feature on every Coldplay record, follows through this march into the heart of lightness. It's a great direction to be heading in.
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