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So I’ve been listening to the new Coldplay album (which you all are too, right?) and I truly can’t get past track one. It’s too beautiful. I keep repeating it. I’m quite certain the rest of the album is stunning, too, but forgive me if I’m stuck on the first 2:39 of it.

Life In Technicolour is the perfect album opener. But at 2:39 it’s far too short. In fact, a couple of great songs on the album are so short that they border on ‘interlude’ status.

Anyway, if you have any modicum of adoration for The Cure - specifically late 80s-era Cure - you’ll fall in love with Life In Technicolour. The guitar is super reminiscent of Just Like Heaven. I did a bit of digging to find out if there were any common songwriters or producers between Coldplay and The Cure, but no dice. Just a little writeup about the fact that Life In Technicolour is the only song on Viva La Vida that Coldplay didn’t write themselves - in fact, it was written by a British dude named Jon Hopkins, who’s also worked with fellow Brits Imogen Heap, Massive Attack, and Brian Eno (oooh, there’s a connection). In addition to the songwriting credits, Jon Hopkins also shares a co-producer credit with Brian Eno on this album.

On his official website Jon reveals that Life In Technicolour’s intro includes an adapted version of a new track of his called Light Through The Veins. Light Through The Veins is also used as the backing for Viva La Vida’s final (hidden) track, The Escapist.

As an established musician with his own solo work to promote, Jon’s going to be the opening act on the first three dates of Coldplay’s summer tour (London, Barcelona and NYC). He reports that he’s just finished a new album mere days ago - you can listen to tracks on his MySpace page. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that he bears a striking resemblance to yet another one of my rock ‘n roll boyfriends, Jonny Greenwood. *hearts*

Links:
First Spin: Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Official Site: Jon Hopkins
MySpace: Jon Hopkins

Posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 3:03 pm by Kat and is filed under Music & Videos.

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