Kaleidoscope EP- Coldplay Review

This "EP" has been a long time coming. The release date to this companion of 2015's A Head Full of Dreams has been constantly delayed as single after single have come out for this EP, four of the five tracks, leaving only one new one to look forward to and a reworked version of the boring Hypnotised. And finally it's here- but how will it sound all together?

The first track is All I Can Think About Is You, which really signaled the new sound for Coldplay that this EP would bring. The song starts slowly, with basic drumming, and low guitar, bass and keyboards and begins to heat up around Chris Martin's vocals. When he says something about a lonely shoe it launches into a classic Coldplay key line and into an almost orchestral song with Chris Martin singing to the rafters. Their also many synths that crowd the song up too much, when it would be perfectly fine on its own. The song turns a bit too grandiose, but does end well on a guitar note. Miracles(Someone Special) starts off with the same cluttering synth, with weird jerks that made me think my computer was malfunctioning. When the song gets going, it has an inspirational message that is boring but you'll still want to sing to, and a great summery guitar line that really makes the song. The rap by Big Sean is more of a rapper's message of inspiration, through the rags to riches route. Big Sean sounds a lot better than most current rappers, but the song doesn't flow as well as Coldplay's first rap collaboration, the stellar Lost+. A L I E N S is the best song in this whole EP, with its tapestry of instruments and swift drumbeat carrying it along, and meaningless but singable lyrics. The main issues are that their isn't much focus on a single instrument, and peculiar retro arcade style synths.

Next comes something terrible, Something Just Like This Tokyo Remix, the live version of the fantastically terrible EDM hit that was made in collaboration with the Chainsmokers, which nothing else needs to be said about. Then there's the EP mix of Hypnotized, originally a stunningly bland song. The song is led by a cascading piano and shimmering keyboard, with Chris Martin's vocals seeming decent on a later listen. The song is okay, but gets a bit boring and drags on for 3 minutes longer than it needs to.

With the new stadium ready pop rock sound of this EP(which is 24 minutes, one more minute and it could've been sold as an album), as opposed to the pop of A Head Full Of Dreams, Coldplay presents a new set of strengths and weaknesses. The main strengths are when they use mainly guitar with good backing synths and a good mix of instruments led by Chris Martin fully using his voice. The main weaknesses are when they use background synths and other instruments that clutter the songs, with too much going on and Chris Martin not using his voice well. A big weakness is Something Just Like This, the only good thing about it being Coldplay's name on it. As this is a companion to A Head Full Of Dreams, which came out two years ago, we'll have to wait a long time to see what they do next, as Coldplay normally takes two years per album. Hopefully, they'll play up their strengths, the ones that made A Rush of Blood to the Head, Viva La Vida and Mylo Xyloto some of the best of all time.

On a side note, this blog is celebrating 100 views and its 2 month anniversary- so yay! keep on reading!