Sad bastard-music lovers of the world rejoice: Coldplay has released a new album. Much has been made about their choice of producers on Viva la Vida—the band’s fourth release— and with good reason. The most famous of the bunch is Brian Eno, whose work with U2 is legendary, and for a band that started off with the ambition of becoming Radiohead Jr. Coldplay has evolved more into U2 Lite. Look no further than the instrumental opener, “Life in Technicolor”, or the track that follows, “Cemeteries of London” with its Bono-like sing-a-long (La la la…), chorus, and the Edge-like ringing of Jon Buckland’s guitar. They’re not quite a glorified cover band. But they’re not that far off either.

That’s not to discount Coldplay’s merit or originality—even the best steal—or to imply that the album is bad. it’s not. Viva la Vida is definitely more experimental than their previous releases, shying away from (though never completely renouncing) the trademark sound of Chris Martin’s falsetto-driven ballads. The title track, featured prominently in an iTunes commercial, is one of the catchiest pop songs in years, and could just as well be a reflection of the current political climate as it could be a cutting room floor ditty from the Broadway version of Les Miserables. And the political overtones of the album as a whole shouldn’t be understated. In the stellar “Violet Hill” Martin warns, “When the future’s architectured/By a carnival of idiots on show/You’d better lie low.” And on the closer “Death And All His Friends”, he could just as well be stating what seems to be the popular opinion of the Iraq War when he sings, “No I don’t want a battle from beginning to end/I don’t want a cycle of recycled revenge.”

The new coming of an early Pete Seeger or Joan Baez, Coldplay are not. But at the same time it’s admirable when every soccer mom’s favorite band steps out of the safety net of songs like “Fix You” and “Clocks” and takes an honest—yet not so in your face—stance on something. Change is courageous, and Viva la Vida is certainly that. They are still the disciples of their sonic forefathers, but this further cements them as band you can’t ignore, even if its strictly on a guilty pleasure basis.

This post is tagged Coldplay, Viva la Vida