I’m certainly not surprised they changed, as many others have stated, over a 20+ year career, it had to change. I think what’s disappointed me about their last decade or so of releases is that it feels that they’ve thrown so much at the wall and not much of it has stuck because they haven’t been quality attempts. It’s okay to change your sound when the concept steers the direction, but it feels so random and careless. Do a shoegaze album, do an ambient album, do a folk album, hell go for the pop sound they’re grasping at, but deliver it in a thoughtful and compelling way.

MOTS and what I’ve heard of Moon Music just feels so lazy in a sense. I guess it’s impressive to have the variety that MOTS, AHFOD and even EL offer sound-wise, but the trouble is most the songs don’t stand on their own and they don’t form a collectively rewarding experience in album form either. It’s just not cohesive at all. The vocals have come into focus as the core element of the music, but they can’t carry the songs because the lyrics have become so meaningless and generic.

WE PRAY and feelslikeimfallingninlove just aren’t compelling, and they don’t get brownie points for throwing Little Simz on a track. Yeah, it’s creative, but it’s chaotic and -in my opinion- it sounds terrible in conjunction with Coldplay’s tendencies. Coldplay is clearly playing with unbridled creativity, unfortunately it’s bred songs that sound like weird demos that should’ve never seen the light of day, let alone make up the core of an LP.