Coldplay - Prospekt’s March EP

EPs are, in this writers humble opinion, generally great things. Short enough to get in repeated listens quickly, yet without focusing on a lead track as a single. However, ‘Prospekt’s March’ isn’t so much an EP as it is a collection of offcuts from ‘Viva La Vida’, a companion piece to the album, which whilst interesting, is far from essential.

The main point of contention on this release is ‘Lost+’, on which it’s easy to side with the critics, seeing Coldplay as a ‘safe’ band, hoping to prove themselves edgy by getting the perennially cool Jay-Z to collaborate with them. The truth is, in the first place ‘Lost!’ was a fine track and the addition of a rap (whilst a decent performance) is a tacked on afterthought. ‘Life In Technicolour II’ is similarly pointless, formally an instrumental, now sporting Chris Martin vocals.

On the plus side the new songs on ‘Prospekt’s March’ are rather fine. ‘Postcards From Far Away’ is a really pretty little piano piece and ‘Glass Of Water’ with its epic scaling choruses and even dabs of synthesiser is easily as strong as anything off ‘Viva La Vida’. However, the highlight is ‘Rainy Day’ where we get Coldplay operating well outside of their comfort zone. There’s a groove and staggered vocals giving way to classical strings and the surprisingly intimate lyrics “I love it when you come over to my house” are far less vague than anything Martin’s offered us for years, and we’re very thankful for it.

Hopefully, mistakes and lessons from this EP will guide Coldplay on album number five, as the evolution in sound that’s on offer at times is a tantalising glimpse of what we want from the band.