Coldplay reveals more album details

NEW YORK - UK band Coldplay have debuted several tracks from their as-yet-untitled new album during an intimate concert for fans and industry personnel in London.

New songs "Speed of Sound," "A Message" and "What If" were unveiled, while time constraints prevented a fourth tune, "Fix You," from being played.

Frontman Chris Martin also described another song, "Square One," as "designed to be played live" during an interview with BBC Radio One. The band previously said tracks such as "The Hardest Part," "X&Y" and "'Till Kingdom Come" were contenders to make the final cut.

The artist elaborated on why Coldplay scrapped its first batch of new material last summer, after it had begun rehearsing the songs for a planned tour.

"We realized that we didn't really have the right songs, and some of them were starting to sound better, because we were playing them, than they did on record. So we thought we better go back and record them again," he said.

Martin said the new album was days away from being finished, and that only one song was left to mix. The set will arrive in June via Capitol. One new song, "Talk," has been circulating online in the past few days. Reports suggest it may be earmarked for a B-side.

Coldplay will make its first public live appearance since 2003 on Saturday (March 12) during a KCRW benefit at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheater.

Martin admitted Coldplay is nervous to trot itself back out in front of audiences. "We've been away for so long now, and the only public feedback we get is tabloid gossip, which is generally vitriolic," he said. "So at this point we feel so unpopular and so out of the loop."

In addition to its April 30 headlining appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., Coldplay will play a rare club show the night before in Las Vegas. The group will begin a European tour June 15 in Hamburg, Germany.

- REUTERS/BILLBOARD