A Reaction to Coldplay's Ghost Stories, Three Listens In

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For the first time in my 8 years of loving Coldplay, I wasn't excited to hear their music.

I was instantly disappointed when I heard "Magic" for the first time. Where was the energy from Mylo Xyloto? Where was the upward spark? Sure, "Magic" had a pulse, but a skull-penetrating bass bump isn't quite enough to make me excited for the rest of the album. No matter the circumstances, I am not a fair weather fan. I remember strongly disliking "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" when I first heard it. Maybe it's a marketing strategy unique to Coldplay: hand out a single that demonstrates the latest style shift, build unsure reactions among your fan base, and then reveal your most amazing album yet and chuckle as everyone swears they liked the single after all (and the rest of the album). 

I came to Coldplay in a very backwards manner. I jumped on Viva la Vida after hearing its namesake single and went in reverse chronological order, eventually falling into Parachutes. It's entirely possible that tracking Coldplay backwards like that made each stylistic shift easier to bear, and perhaps that's why I've had a strong reaction to each album following Viva la Vida. With MX, I went into it nervous, remembering the clangy sound of the first released single, but by the end I was blown into obsession, a full on mind-meld with the music.

Ghost Stories fell quite short of the emotional reaction I was expecting. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the calm, sometimes ethereal vibe of the album. I relaxed into it. But that's exactly the problem with the album, I think. There are plenty of slow-paced albums in the world that have this blossoming power that totally captures you as you listen. And then there's Ghost Stories, which feels like waiting on the beach or the ocean foam to reach your toes and going home totally dry. It simply does not reach the blockbuster caliber that we, as fans, have come to expect of Coldplay even in their quieter moments.

If time followed the reverse chronological scale on which I came to love Coldplay, I would venture that Ghost Stories would be their debut album. The lyricism is somewhat clumsy and uninteresting, but any listener can tell they do in fact have musical talent behind them. As it stands now, Ghost Stories seems almost like a bonus album, an EP without the same allure as Prospekt's March, that isn't likely to stand the test of time. 

Better luck next time, boys. I'll be loyally waiting.