Coldplay staying hot.
I found this excerpt from a blog entry on Coldplay.com:
When I say “the fellas”, there is one person notably absent from these sessions. Chris has been banned from the studio for these first two weeks. Now, before the rumour mill cranks its way excitedly into life, this does not indicate any kind of split in the camp. This is an experiment of Brian’s (a phrase I feel I may have a hard time not over-using as the project progresses). Rather than have Chris’s demo recordings come in fully-formed, leading the songs in a particular direction, Will, Guy and Jonny are constructing their own musical underpinning with little idea of what Chris had in mind. For many of the tracks, they hear nothing but the vocal track.
The fact that this is such a crazy way of going about things seems to encourage them to go off in deliberately strange and adventurous directions. Often, they come in first thing in the morning and listen to Chris’s idea once, before going out into the live room and working up something based purely on how the song “felt” to them on first listen, paying little heed to what chords he chose or how the melody sat.
The absence of the immediately recognisable piano and voice makes the sounds coming through the speakers seem very fresh, new and exciting. When Brian makes the move to his laptop and brings Chris’s voice back in, the familiar Coldplay melodies and emotions are loud and clear, but the canvas they are set against has become wider, more vivid and even more daring.
So what of Mr Martin in all of this? Somewhat predictably, he’s not slouched on a sofa in front of daytime television. He’s up the road at another studio pouring out songs in a writing project with another artist.
This is so cool to read, and a brilliant concept toward recording. It’s really not surprising that a heavyweight like Brian Eno would have some unorthodox ideas about getting the best out of artists in a studio. And two Coldplay records in as many years? Keep the fire going, boys.
Are you drowning or waving? 