Coldplay – “Orphans” & “Arabesque”
Coldplay are releasing an allegedly experimental double album called Everyday Life next month, and they’ve been promoting it in all the cagey and roundabout ways Coldplay-sized bands sometimes do. They teased it with mysterious posters and announced it via postcards to fans, and yesterday they confirmed its official tracklist through classified newspaper ads in the four members’ hometowns. It matches the one that recently leaked, meaning Everyday Life really does contain a song called “Daddy.”
Today we get to hear two of the new tracks, though sadly not “Daddy” yet. “Orphans” and “Arabesque” just premiered on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show Future Sounds. The former is on Everyday Life’s second disc, Sunset, while the latter is from the first disc, Sunrise. Both songs are produced by the Dream Team. “Arabesque” features vocals from Stromae and horns by Femi Kuti and his band. A video for “Orphans” will premiere tomorrow morning at 8AM ET. Also, Coldplay will be the musical guest on next week’s 11/2 episode of Saturday Night Live, their sixth time playing the show.
In addition to premiering the new songs, Mac spoke to Chris Martin about the new album, which is 53 minutes long and sounds like an extremely Coldplay operation. “It’s all about just being human,” Martin said. “Every day is great and every day is terrible…It just feels kind of free. There’s so much life bursting out on the planet.” He continued, “[The album] is our reaction to the perceived negativity that’s everywhere. And there is a lot of trouble, but there’s also so much positivity and so much great life happening. So in a way, it’s just trying to make sense of things, saying what we feel and what we see.”
Martin also says he’s ready pull a Taylor Swift and alienate part of his fan base by speaking his mind about controversial issues: “The truth is there was something about our last tour that made me at peace with speaking openly and not minding if people disagree… This has been the first time we’ve felt like ‘We’ve got to this place as a band so there’s really nothing to think about career-wise.’ You can just speak completely freely and let all the colors of life come through.”
As for which issues Everyday Life touches on, he remains vague: “Some of it’s very personal, about real things in my life, and some of it’s about things that I see or we see, and some of it’s about trying to empathize about what other people are going through… It seems to me that one of things that might help people have a better time is to put themselves in other people’s shoes, whether that’s these kids who have to leave Syria, or who grew up in Baltimore, or whatever it might be. Rather than judging from afar, maybe to think, ‘I wonder what it’s like to be there.'”
Hear the new songs below, where you can also see Martin’s interview with Mac and the Everyday Life tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
Disc 1: Sunrise
01 “Sunrise”
02 “Church”
03 “Trouble in Town”
04 “BrokEn”
05 “Daddy”
06 “WOTW / POTP”
07 “Arabesque”
08 “When I Need a Friend”
Disc 2: Sunset
01 “Guns”
02 “Orphans”
03 “Èkó”
04 “Cry Cry Cry”
05 “Old Friends”
06 “بني آدم” (“Bani Adam,” Arabic for “Children Of Adam”)
07 “Champion Of The World”
08 “Everyday Life”
Everyday Life is out 11/22 on Parlophone/Atlantic. Two US-only vinyl versions will be available via Third Man Records on standard black and limited edition gold. A 7″ single featuring “Arabesque” and “Orphans” is available now via Third Man.
