am I part of the disease?

I picked up Coldpay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head last night. I’d heard the singles, seen a couple of TV interviews, and duly noted some people’s distaste for the band. There’s something about prissy, over-earnest brit-pop that I can’t get enough of, and Coldplay certainly fit that bill. Catchy hooks, hummable tunes and semi-mumbled lyrics are the hallmarks of these bands, forming the bridge between ‘real’ rock and the kindercore musings of Bell & Sebastian and their ilk.

I’m also intrigued by their politics; which seem, like them, over-earnest, perhaps simplistic, but to my eyes, in the right place. That the lead singer scrawls ‘maketradefair.com‘ on his hands for every public appearance is at least some semblance of commitment to a cause. The inside-back-cover of the liner notes on the album also lists the usual suspects of vanilla human-rights and environmental-protection groups

So politics aside, how does the album stand up? Actually, pretty damn good. There’s a certain blandness to the sound that lets it blend easily into white noise if I’m working and need to concentrate, while interesting enough lyrically to warrant a good headphoned listen-through. It’s not groundbreaking, it’s not saving (or destroying) brit-pop, but it’s quite good. I nearly said pleasant, but no more damning praise has ever been written about an album, I think. They fit nicely into my group of ‘sin’ bands, who I probably shouldn’t like, but do anyway.

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