Marital drama haunts Coldplay’s ‘Ghost Stories’

COLDPLAY’S romantic confessional (inset) is a meditative evocation of loss, hope and healing

Coldplay’s “Ghost Stories” need not channel “Mylo Xyloto’s” theatricality and eagerness to please to catch music lovers’ fancy, because the intriguing themes it tackleslove, heartbreak and the consequences of our actionsmake the sixth album of Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion their most intimate yet.

The most ubiquitous “ghost” haunting lead vocalist Martin is ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow, who broke up with him two months before the release of the recording. The couple was married in 2003, and had been trying to resolve their differences for two years.

A meditative evocation of loss, hope and healing, the rock quartet’s romantic confessional doesn’t require vigorous “decoding” for listeners to understand how the famous couple’s “conscious uncoupling” is tearing Martin’s heart apartbecause, as he laments in “Magic,” “Ink” and “Always In My Head,” “my body goes where I go, but my heart stays still.”

What sets this melodically alluring collection apart from other conceptually intriguing “breakup” albums is the way it expresses more love than resentment and rancorous recriminationsand shows one of the music biz’s biggest rock acts in a softer and more vulnerable light:

There’s wistful regret in “True Love”: “Once upon a time/ When I was yours, and you were blind/ Fire would sparkle in your eyes and mine/ I wish you could have let me know/ What’s really going on below/ Tell me you love meif you don’t, then lie.”

Imperfections

The 37-year-old British rocker mines his loss with moving restraint as he delivers his songs devoid of pretense, and balances the album lineup’s imperfections, gloomy tone and repetitive themes with unrelenting honesty.

In the repertoire’s lone rock-and-electronica-flavored dance track, “A Sky Full of Stars,” Coldplay’s collaboration with Avicii, Martin lets out a husky howl as he pleads for another chance: “Go on and tear me apart/ Because in a sky full of stars/ I think I saw you.”

In the eerie and ethereal “Midnight,” he seeks solace with heart-rending solemnity: “In the darkness before the dawn/ In the swirling of this storm/ When I’m rolling with the punches/ And all hope is gone/ Leave a light on.” You’d be a cruel curmudgeon to begrudge him of much-needed healing!

Yes, the rock star wants to move on, as he reveals in “Oceans” (“I’m trying to change/ I’m ready for it all”), but falling in love isn’t a switch you can turn off at will.

Then, Martin gets even more upbeat and hopeful in the hidden track, “O”: “A flock of birds hovering above/ And I always look up to the sky/ Pray before the dawn ’cause they always fly/ Maybe one day, I’ll fly next to you!”