Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay

Mylo Xyloto is Coldplay's fifth album, released in 2011, a loose concept record about two people finding each other in a grey, controlled world. It is their most colourful and electronic work, full of bright synths and big choruses. I came to it years later, expecting froth, and found a bolder record than its reputation suggests.

Why listen?

The sound is loud and hopeful, with neon textures laid over the band's usual guitar and piano. The production is glossy but never cold, and the songs link together as one continuous arc. The themes are simple, love against a hard world, yet they carry real warmth. There is a sense of breaking out, of running towards light. It is an album built to be played from start to finish.

Favourite song: Paradise

The album's grand centrepiece, with its swelling strings and rising chorus. It carries the whole record's longing in one soaring tune.

And dreamed of para-, para-, paradise
Para-, para-, paradise
Para-, para-, paradise
Every time she closed her eyes

The way the chorus lifts off feels like cresting a ridge and seeing the valley open below. It reminds me of pushing through a long climb for the reward of the view, the effort forgotten in a single bright moment. The song dreams of a better place without pretending the present is easy.

Key takeaway

Mylo Xyloto is Coldplay at their most vivid and generous. Give it a full listen and let the colours run together.

Tracklist

• Mylo Xyloto
• Hurts Like Heaven
• Paradise
• Charlie Brown
• Us Against the World
• M.M.I.X.
• Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall
• Major Minus
• U.F.O.
• Princess of China
• Up in Flames
• A Hopeful Transmission
• Don't Let It Break Your Heart
• Up with the Birds

Details

Listen on

• Apple Music
• Amazon
• Spotify

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