Viva La Coldplay

a couple weeks ago, Coldplay made some waves by not only releasing “Violet Hill”, the first single off of their upcoming album “Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends,” but made it a free download on their website for a week. So being the cheapskate that I am, I took the bait.

“Violet Hill” marks a new darker and more experimental sound for Coldplay. The call-to-arms drums, the siren-like wails of the guitar, Chris Martin’s determined and driven vocals are all new territory for a band whose previous work had all the makings of make-outs, break-ups and coming-of-age anthems (please see: “Sparks,” “The Scientist” and “Fix You” for further explanation…). Now don’t worry, there are still some of the same Coldplay fingerprints – signature piano work, a little falsetto here and there, and the smooth-but-careful-to-not-be-too-slick production quality – but the new musical strides are pleasingly hard to miss.

Then, a few days later, they released “Viva La Vida” as a free download to those who pre-ordered the CD… or those who could upload it to YouTube and let everyone else hear it. So here it is:

This one sounds a little more like the Coldplay we’re all used to, but still progressive nonetheless (credit super-producer Brian Eno for taking their sound the next level). This one lacks the aggression of “Violet Hill” but makes up for it with string swells and big timpani drums laying the backbone for an arena-sized chorus about choirs, bells and missionaries. Epic enough. The full album comes out June 12, but overall these are great first singles and a solid new step for Apple’s dad and the boys.

EDIT: So YouTube got wind of the fact that “Viva La Vida” was being streamed from their site, and pulled them down today.  Bummer.  I guess you gotta go pre-order the CD now.