X & Y

Most of us travel through life with our minds racing and bodies flailing. Getting ourselves to feel grounded on a regular basis not only takes a lot of work, but tons of patience and focus; plus there's enough outside clatter in this world to so easily distract us from getting to that place of bliss. Thankfully, Coldplay has created an album so grounded, there's no way you'll be racing around town with this one in your possession.It is so obvious that the nation is craving some serenity with the huge success of Coldplay and the release of X&Y. Chris Martin, little Apple's "cool" daddy and front man of the band is a bona fide rock star and he seems to do it so effortlessly you'd think the guy was living in another world and in another time. He's managed to marry Gwyneth Paltrow, be in a band who's success is compared to U2 and write songs about it that turn out to be mini masterpieces. Coldplay has always carried with them the stigma of having a repetitive sound and X&Y is no exception - but this time it makes the album soar, well beyond the realm of our expectations. It feels like a large album with a very large purpose. With all thirteen tracks complimenting each other, I hate to single out any one out, but track #4 has too much energy and strength not to and if you let it, with one listen "fix you" may even bring (dare I say it) a tear to your eye... I'll leave it at that. Coldplay has a unique ability to to write songs about love and life's triumphs without sounding forlorn or desperate, and the way Martin sings them it sounds like the words are coming directly from the gut of his soul; It almost feels like we're peeking into his livingroom window watching him scribble in his notebook. X&Y has such a mesmerizing tone it seems to seep into our subconscious like some sort of spiritual subliminal recording- minus the creepiness. It commands our attention almost to a fault, being that there's no way to focus on anything but Chris's lyrics while you listen. It's simply intoxicating.Coldplay's third album stands so tall it's hard to imagine how the forth or fith one will feel; hopefully the band won't come up for air too soon. This is beautiful, goose bump provoking music-something the world needs a whole lot more of.