leave a light, a light on."
Ghost Stories is the sixth album by English Alternative Rock band Coldplay, released in 2014.
It is a Concept Album from the perspective of a man undergoing the sudden end of a relationship, with the tracks representing his full reflection on the matter before coming to acceptance and moving on. This premise was partially inspired by vocalist Chris Martin's breakup with Gwyneth Paltrow, his wife of 10 years.note Among the main subjects of the album, Martin cited one's capacity for unconditional love and how one lets the events of their past (which he described as "ghosts") affect their present and future as major themes.
In another wholesale shift in sound for the band, the introspective lyrics are accompanied by ambient electronic soundscapes. The genres explored by the album range between full-on ambient music ("Midnight", "Oceans", "O"), alternative pop ("Magic", "Ink", "True Love"), and Trip Hop/downtempo ("Always in My Head", "Another's Arms"), making for a subdued, atmospheric listening experience. However, the album also builds to an emotional climax of sorts through an EDM song co-produced by Avicii ("A Sky Full of Stars"). It was reported that in working on the album, the band sought to return to a stripped-down acoustic sound following the electronic maximalism of their previous album, 2012's Mylo Xyloto.
The album was promoted by four singles: "Magic", "A Sky Full of Stars", "True Love", and "Ink". "Midnight" was further released in April 2015 as a promotional single for Record Store Day.
Tracklist
- "Always in My Head" (3:36)
- "Magic" (4:45)
- "Ink" (3:48)
- "True Love" (4:05)
- "Midnight" (4:54)
- "Another's Arms" (3:54)
- "Oceans" (5:21)
- "A Sky Full of Stars" (4:28)
- "O" (7:47)note
A sky full of tropes
- Autotune: "Midnight" utilizes a soft vocoder on Chris' vocals that becomes more apparent when played live and fielded many comparisons to Bon Iver.
- B-Side: "All Your Friends", "Ghost Story" and the "O" reprise, featured in the A Sky Full of Stars EP and the Target edition of the album.
- Bittersweet Ending: The story of heartbreak from a recently-terminated relationship chronicled throughout Ghost Stories ends on a note of acceptance from the protagonist in the finale of "O", who's willing to move on but will never forget what the relationship meant to him.
- Big Friendly Dog: One of them joins the band in the woods in the "Midnight" video.
- Bookends:
- The opening track "Always in My Head" prominently uses the same angelic choir sounds as the hidden final track "O".
- The song "Another's Arms" begins and ends with the same lines.Late night watching TV
Used to be you here beside me
Used to be your arms around me
Your body on my body
- Break Up Song: Ghost Stories is essentially and conceptually a breakup album, considering it was made around the time when Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow divorced.
- Cherubic Choir: Used to beautiful effect in "O", with Chris Martin's children providing the vocals.
- Concept Album: The album takes partial inspiration from Chris' rocky relationship with his wife Gwyneth Paltrow (at least at the time of the album recording), the album revolves around a man going through a dramatic and sudden breakup, with the tracks representing the man's state of mind leading up to his eventual acceptance of the situation.
- Darker and Edgier: Especially compared to Mylo Xyloto before it and A Head Full of Dreams after, with the album tackling Chris Martin's break up head on, with a much more moody and introspective sound and having a Bittersweet Ending in comparison to Mylo Xyloto's Happy Ending.
- Dastardly Whiplash: One of the two roles Chris plays in the "Magic" music video is the magician's abusive husband, who has a top hat, monocle, and curly mustache that resemble this look.
- Deliberately Monochrome:
- The video for "Midnight", which uses both negative and thermal infrared imagery, is entirely in black-and-white (aside from some Splash of Color-esque effects) except for the final shot.
- The video for "Magic" is filmed like an old-time silent movie, and is black and white as a result.
- Epic Instrumental Opener: Inverted; Ghost Stories has the ambient Hidden Track "O", an Epic Instrumental Closer that plays after "Fly On".
- Ethereal Choir: The angelic choir that appears in the first track and hidden finale of Ghost Stories; the album's finale also features Chris Martin's own children singing to this effect.
- Evil Brunette Twin: Used in the music video for "Magic". Chris Martin not only plays the hero, but also the villain, a mix of Stage Magician and Dastardly Whiplash.
- Fading into the Next Song: On Ghost Stories, there's a split-second overlap between "True Love" and "Midnight", and "Oceans" has an ambient outro that effectively sets the stage mood-wise for — and transitions into — "A Sky Full of Stars".
- Hidden Track: A weird example. The ninth and final track on the album's tracklist is listed as "O," despite the fact that the first song that plays is actually titled "Fly On." "O" is, in fact, the hidden track that plays about two minutes after "Fly On" ends.
- Knife-Throwing Act: In the music video for "Magic", this is featured. In the extended edition of the video, Chris Martin's character is stabbed through the heart. Luckily for him, this is only a dream.
- Lonely Piano Piece: "Fly On" has a quiet piano as the only instrument, reflecting Chris's grief over his divorce and his hope that his children will recover.
- Longest Song Goes Last: "Fly On" + "O".
- Magicians Are Wizards: In "Magic," the magician's assistant, played by Chris, has magic powers that he uses to rescue the magician from her abusive husband (also played by Chris.)
- Non-Appearing Title: "Midnight".
- One-Man Band: Each band member plays one of them in the video for "A Sky Full of Stars".
- One-Word Title: "Magic", "Ink", "Midnight", "Oceans" and "O".
- Sampling: A sample of Jon Hopkins' "Amphora" is used prominently in "Midnight".
- Silly Love Songs: "A Sky Full of Stars" and "Magic", although the latter falls on Lyrical Dissonance.
- Surreal Music Video: The video for "Midnight" was filmed entirely (save for the ending) using a thermal infrared camera with negative imagery with a whole slew of visual effects on top of that.
- Textless Album Cover: There's no text on the album cover, just bird wings. This helps hammer in the darker and more melancholy feel of the songs.
- 'Cause you're a sky, you're a sky full of stars
Such a heavenly view
You're such a heavenly view
