Coldplay releases piano ballad in surprise new music

NEW YORK — Coldplay last week released a piano ballad in surprise new music by the English rockers to mark frontman Chris Martin’s 40th birthday.

“Hypnotised,” described by the band as a “new non-single song,” is the first track off an EP entitled Kaleidoscope announced for June 2.

“Hypnotised” starts off with dream-like chimes and piano with hints of Sigur Ros before turning into a more traditional rock ballad.

The song — in which Martin confesses he’s “never gonna be a saint” but finds renewal through love — is accompanied by a soothing video with images of the sea.

A Coldplay statement described the EP as a “sister release” to the band’s last album A Head Full of Dreams, which featured a song called “Kaleidoscope.”

Besides “Hypnotised,” Kaleidoscope features “Something Just Like This” — Coldplay’s recent collaboration with chart-topping New York electronic duo The Chainsmokers — and three yet-to-be released songs.

Coldplay, which has enjoyed worldwide success since its debut album Parachutes in 2000, had hinted that A Head Full of Dreams may be its swan song when it came out in late 2015.

Coldplay has gone on a marathon global tour for A Head Full of Dreams. An Asian leg opens on March 31 in Singapore before second rounds through Europe and North America.

The group will also headline a new Global Citizen festival in Hamburg on July 6 to press leaders of the Group of 20 major economies to work to end extreme poverty in the developing world. — AFP