By Larissa Santiago

Ghost Stories is the perfect time travel album, taking us back to things that we want to forget. Coldplay’s latest effort brings back memories, feelings of sadness and broken hearts, and is an excellent choice when you want to think about life in general, or perhaps make a reflection about your love life.

This is considered to be Coldplay’s break-up album, involving the most emotional material released by the group. It is a little bit different from the band’s early works, as it is less electronic, has slower singles, and is more focused on the state of loneliness. The content at the core of the album is the separation of Chris Martin from his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, after ten years of marriage, and each song seems to narrate the vocalist’s feelings.

As the style has clearly changed in the band’s sixth album, there is a notable lack of development in the songwriting part, such as in the song “Always In My Head,” as indicated by the lyrics: “I think of you/I haven’t slept/I think I do/But I don’t forget.” Although these lyrics indicate the sadness of the album and the change of Martin’s source of inspiration, they are surprisingly simple in comparison to Coldplay’s previous songwriting; however, Martin uses his unforgettable falsetto to sing his hear out and that has become Coldplay’s own unique sound.

“Midnight” can be considered the peak of the album and is ideal to listen to alone with headphones. There is the presence of a techno beat produced by the well-known Jon Hopkins, along with Martin’s robotic voice style, which lends the song a mysterious tone. As the name itself says, Ghost Stories creates some goose bumps at some parts as Martin sings his feelings about the breakup, exemplified in their fifth single off the album, “Midnight.”

The following track, “Another’s Arms,” continues on with this newly melancholic, goose bump inducing style, with its enchanting chorus and its heartbreaking opening and closing verses, as Martin wished to be with his beloved Paltrow: “Late night watching TV/Wish that you were here beside me/Wish that your arms were around me/Your body on my body.”

The third single from the album, “A Sky Full of Stars,” is the only exception in terms of electronic beats; the track is arguably the first dance track from the band and has house music influences, standing alone from true electronic music through the sad lyrics.

It is only at the final song, “O,” that listeners see the very well-known piano beat that Coldplay consistently uses in their ballads, such as in “Fix You” and “The Scientist.” It is a deeply powerful song, as Martin sings about observing a flock of birds, simultaneously expressing his sorrow and hope in love in the lyrics: “Fly on, ride through/Maybe one day I can fly with you/Fly on.”

Overall, even though Coldplay clearly their style in this album and surprised us with new sounds and melancholy, the band is still going strong with their piano and guitar beats in their production of Ghost Stories. (Parlophone)