Andrew Haglund

Moon Music

Despite Coldplay’s new album Moon Music not coming out until Friday, I found a way to listen to it.

In a world where many people tune into endless playlists and mindless lo-fi music on YouTube, I’m an old school album guy. I love discovering new music but I can’t latch onto an artist without sinking my teeth into an album or an EP. The album is a work of art: What is its mood? What does this collection of songs in this particular order say about the people who made it and the time in which it’s made?

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about Coldplay is their dedication to the album. It’s certain to be a commercially-driven strategy: the duration between albums, time spent on tour, and how long they drip and hype a new release is like clockwork. Each album is an era which its own unique art style, show, and through line.

That brings me to Moon Music (which is Coldplay’s second collaboration with Max Martin and billed as a follow-up to Music of the Spheres) which has a semblance of continuity, hung together loosely with what I would call spacey sounds and (like 99% of pop music) simple ideas about love.

Here are my thoughts after a first listen.

(Listen to this album with some good headphones, you’ll thank me later.)

It begins with a gorgeous intro, the titular Moon Music, from Jon Hopkins. To my knowledge it’s the first time he’s been credited as a “featuring…” on a Coldplay track (as opposed to being relegated to liner notes) but he’s worked with Coldplay as far back as 2008’s opening track on Viva La Vida. The opener here too is absolutely brilliant and I was completely lost in it.

Feelslikeimfallinginlove has a strange combination of having energy — especially in the chorus — while being a slow, low-key rhythmic vibe. It was a solid choice for a lead single.

We Pray is a more successful version of Princess of China with Rihanna, or Hymn for the Weekend with Beyoncé. I don’t know the artists featured but I enjoy how different this song feels and it has definitely grown on me.

Jupiter is an absolute joy that fills your heart with an upbeat message. Ya gotta love the acoustic guitar and cello.

Good Feelings with Arya Starr is a funky good time with a stellar guitar riff halfway in. It sounds like it could have been on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories or on a Passion Pit record.

Rainbow is filled with dreamy synths, ripping guitar, a beautiful piano interlude, and spoken audio from Maya Angelou reminds me of M83’s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming.

Iaam (“I Am a Mountain”) is like a throwback to Glass of Water from 2009 but without the heart. The mix itself is hollow: tonally, lyrically, and energy. It stays at one level the whole time.

Aeterna is a groovy tune my brother. I’m looking forward to hearing many remixes that take this jam to full-on EDM music. Nice vocal outro too. (I think they played this live at Glastonbury and it looked like a rockin’ time.)

All My Love is a classic, piano-centric Coldplay love song with a great string ensemble. It feels like this song has been in the air forever yet is somehow new. (Reminds me of their demo of Wedding Bells many moons ago.) I wanna sit down at the piano and learn it.

One World has vamping synths, piano, guitar which fall away to a hundred humming voices then trails to another breathtaking string piece. Some Pink Floyd vibes at the very beginning then goes straight to M83 for its crescendo.

(The outro had me wondering if they forgot to come back and record the words — but there’s also something charming in its rawness.)

There’s a lot of variety in Moon Music and a lot to like. Musically there are some incredible moments, especially in the more complex instrumental compositions. Lyrically it left me wanting with two too many songs rely on “la la la” as a chorus.

As a continuous listening experience, it moves nicely throughout but there’s an unevenness. (The incongruity from We Pray to Jupiter is a bit of whiplash.)

To be sure, there is some beautiful music here (if you like Coldplay) but time will tell if this is a good album that stands out in the annals of time like Viva la Vida. Maybe by my tenth listen I can check back in.

My first listen was laying in bed with headphones and I’m looking forward to hearing it on my speakers tomorrow for a totally different listening experience.

© 2024 Andrew Haglund