Ghost Stories is certainly easier to spell than their last album Mylo Xyloto -- but is it a better album?
Lead single Magic at least is the best thing the band have done in years. It's a five-star track on its own that demands repeat listening.
Like the bulk of the album it's very low key -- but ballads are what Coldplay do best. Though Ghost Stories is not so much a collection of ballads as it is the band's own Kid A -- a rock band undergoing an identity crisis much like U2 in the early 90s or perhaps Radiohead struggling with their own fame.
Second single Midnight is a bizarre electronic-heavy track along the lines of Laurie Anderson's O Superman, while Sky Full of Stars -- the closest the band come to their usual stadium rock -- takes the electronica to the next level with a full-on house breakout.
Ghost Stories is at times a haunting yet beautiful album but while Magic is its strongest moment, the whole thing is lacking spark and a touch more magic probably would have done the trick.
