Monday, April 25, 2005

Speed of Sound, Coldplay

For those who can't wait till June 6 and Coldplay's release of their new album, the single, "Speed of Sound" has just been released.
Coldplay has definately not lost their distinctive ethereal sound. That light, almost airy sound that is uniquely Coldplay is present from the very beginning of this song. You can hear influences of their earlier music, but their new album sounds like it is going to be significant evolution in their style. The keyboard and ethereal backgrounds that are so prolific in "Clocks" make an appearance in their newest single. A solo guitar seems to be a nice addition in the timbre of this piece.
In common time, the entire theme of the piece is played in the first four measures. Listen as this melodic theme is passed from the keyboard, to the vocalist, to the guitar, and so on. There is a lot of repetition, but somehow, the melody gets blurred by the end of the chorus, but don't fret, the keyboard reenters restating the theme. Anyway, it's rather difficult to analyze a piece such as this, as it tends to just blur together from one section to the next, due the ambient quality of the music. Here is a taste of the lyrics:

All that noise,
and all that sound,
All those places I have found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand…

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