Coldplay – Parachutes

Great Britain's music press, always looking for the "next big thing", has had its sights on COLDPLAY for quite some time. With their debut album, which was beyond all criticism, with these flawless pop jewels of British cut, COLDPLAY are now well prepared for their way into the 1st league of Brit-Pop, which showed their sensational No.1 entry into the UK Charts. "Parachutes" is pure song magic that leaves moved listeners in awe and sounds so heartbreaking that even a

few tears are allowed to flow.

Already at the beginning of 1999 the quartet was at the top of the list of those bands in the New Musical Express that one should not lose sight of. Since the EP "The Blue Room" with its idiosyncratically fragile pop songs, COLDPLAY have been riding a wave of success. The unanimous view of British weeklies that COLDPLAY are stylistically positioned somewhere between Radiohead and Travis can hardly

be denied.

After the single "Shiver" already entered the Top 40 and recently "Yellow" even reached number four in the UK charts, COLDPLAY now present their highly anticipated debut album "Parachutes", which the band recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool together with producer Ken Nelson (Gomez, Badly Drawn Boy). Although the album contains some optimistic moments, COLDPLAY have remained true to their line, the profound reappraisal of great, tragic feelings. The majority of the songs are as melancholic as they are poetic, as introverted as they are intoxicatingly beautiful. And even in the hymn-like pop vignettes "Shiver" and "Yellow", behind all the youthful energy is the knowledge of their transience. "Parachutes" is also an impressively coherent and conclusive opus. A precision landing par excellence.

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