I first heard of them when I was out shopping for an acoustic guitar in one of those guitar shops in Tottenham Court Road... I didn't know it at the time...the raw sound of fingers sliding on strings along a guitar fret, the slow melancholic music conjuring images of a dimly-lit living room, the orange flicker of fire in an old English fireplace, cups of tea on a low glass table in the middle... Such were my sentiments when I heard music from Coldplay's debut album 'Parachutes' back in the winter of 2001... It is still one of the best 'mood-piece' albums I have heard in a long time.
"Clocks" seem to be the soundtrack of my life, over the last year...Somehow I can never grow tired of that haunting riff, the notes from Chris Martin's piano drawing me in, helping me capture life as mediated through music. It is an existential moment best represented in musical form...No words, prose, logic or art could do it for me...
Yesterday, I listened to their new album "X & Y", probably for the second time. The first 3 tracks of the album immediately resonated with my current state of being...uncanny, effortless connection with the soul... I love Coldplay for their sound, their humble, honest lyrics, and their social conscience, using their rock persona in campaigning for a greener, fairer and less poverty-stricken world.
I have my doubts about Mr. Geldof's efforts, Live8... I admire the sincere activism of these artistes, but somehow social justice could very well have been co-opted by Profiteering Corporations... In the end, world poverty and social concern is just another option in the life-style choices of citizens in the developed West and the developing world... But, I do hope Live8 would make a difference and that the G8 would cease to be a 'talk-shop' and really make poverty history.
I can't help but feel how much we are connected, implicated in the whole way our greedy world economy is set up, small Xs and Ys in a matrix of consumption and accumulation. I want out... Perhaps, God's people could be a real, concrete alternative... I hope revolution is on the way... The seeds of simple kindness are already sprouting, often hidden from our eyes...
A song from "X & Y" that speaks of how I feel about the things that matters most to me, these days...
"Fix You" by Coldplay
When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
High up above or down below
when you're too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth
Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Tears streaming down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears streaming down your face and I
Tears streaming down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face and I
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
