Love or hate Coldplay, it's obvious that the British pop/rock band has hit it big and is poised for career longevity. Their 2002 sophomore effort A Rush of Blood to the Head sold 3.7 million copies, and X&Y, their 2005 follow-up, sold more than a million in its first two weeks. Most reviews have been strong, but some critics offered scathing criticism as a backlash to the popularity—a sure sign of runaway success. There's also something to be said for defining a genre and, like U2 and Radiohead, becoming the standard for comparison to numerous copycats. It all comes with the territory when you're reportedly vying to become one of the biggest bands on the planet.

Regardless of how you feel about their music, Coldplay has clearly chosen to run with the qualities that made Rush so successful, only to amplify their sound for soon-to-be packed arenas. The four members won't be regarded as the most skillful musicians, relying heavily on simplistic hooks. But they're proving themselves masters of dynamic, minimalist arrangements that elicit the same emotional responses as history's greatest arena rock bands.

Guitarist Jonny Buckland sounds like he's been intensely studying the U2 playbook to borrow several Edge-styled guitar riffs, while the addition of organ and swirling synthesizer pads suggest frontman Chris Martin is currently enamored with Sigur Ros, Pink Floyd, and David Bowie. The band even uses a familiar hook from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love" for their own song, "Talk." The overall effect of X&Y is like listening to a classic alternative rock band from the '70s and '80s reinvented for the new millennium—very familiar, yet somehow also different.

Coldplay also resembles U2 in that some of their songs hint at spirituality—though not as clearly as Bono and his band. In an old interview, Martin is said to read the Bible regularly, and all four members profess "admiration for Christian beliefs." Martin once told the New York Daily News that he's never "rebelled against his mother's Christian faith," but in another interview he said he "used to be a Christian." In a more recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.com, Martin said, "I'm not agnostic, because I definitely believe in God." But he went on to say he doesn't necessarily believe in a specific religion, and added this bizarre observation: "There's some powers around, whatever they might be. I mean, if there's human beings who can stare at goats and make them die, then there's big forces out there somewhere. You know what I mean?" (Note: Martin, who frequently uses the f-bomb in interviews, includes a few in this one too.)

Martin has said that X&Y refers to the unanswerable questions in life. That fits with the album's recurring themes of incompleteness, fixing souls, and leaps of faith ("you'll never know unless you try"). They're especially heavy in the majestic title track, which desperately searches for change and a way to fill the emptiness. Similarly, the dream-like thunder of "White Shadows" seems to be about regaining lost childhood innocence, or perhaps even faith: "When I was a young boy, I tried to listen and I want to feel like that." A later lyric in the same song hints at something bigger, even cosmic: "You're part of the human race/All of the stars and the outer space/Part of a system, I am."

Several songs take the perspective of a seeker. "What If?" seems to be about his marriage, even seeming to alternate between Martin's voice and that of his wife (actress Gwyneth Paltrow). Yet it also ponders what life would be like if we weren't grounded by the deepest of loves: "What if there was no light/Nothing wrong, nothing right/What if there was no time/And no reason or rhyme/What if you should decide that you don't want me there by your side?" Meanwhile, "The Hardest Part" indicates recognition of misguided views: "Everything I know is wrong/Everything I do it just comes undone/Everything is torn apart."

Some have characterized X&Y as a dark album, yet so much of it is encouraging in tone—portraits of love and compassion invested in the lives of others. "Talk" is about being available to discuss the hurts of another, asking, "Are you lost or incomplete?/Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece?/Tell me how you feel/Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak/And they're talking it to me." Similarly, "Low" offers hope to the depressed and dejected: "You think you'll never get it right/You're wrong, you might." Then there's the glorious "Fix It," supposedly written for Martin's wife after the death of her father. The song plays like a modern day "Bridge Over Troubled Water," offering peace and comfort to the weary: "Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones/And I will try to fix you." It's up to listeners to decide who's offering to repair the soul.

In "A Message," a simple challenge to love better, a pivotal lyric is taken from Samuel Crossman's classic hymn: "My song is love unknown ... Love to the loveless shown." But Martin also omits the key phrase between those two lines—"My Savior's love to me." Inspired by the birth of his daughter, the hit single "Speed of Sound" (excerpted above) is about miracles and wonders, similar in tone to some of the Lord's questioning in Job 38-42—it's no less spiritual than Michael W. Smith's similarly themed hit "Signs." The album closes with "Till Kingdom Come," a song originally written for Johnny Cash to record before his death in 2004. Whether it's directed to Christ or a lost loved one (e.g. June Carter Cash), it's still focused on eternal love in heaven: "I need someone who understands/I need someone who hears/For you I've waited all these years/For you I'd wait till kingdom come/Until my day, my day is done/And say you'll come and set me free/Say you'll wait and wait for me"

Coldplay isn't a "Christian" band, but rather one whose impressionistic and existential lyricism allows for wide interpretations of their love songs on a deeper level. Martin told one interviewer that the band is constantly asking him to refrain from using proper names in his songwriting. No doubt much of that stems from his affinity for numerous political causes, but based on some of his lyricism on X&Y, one wonders if Martin hasn't also tried to insert some specific spiritual references.

Unless specified clearly, we are not implying whether this artist is or is not a Christian. The views expressed are simply the author's. For a more complete description of our Glimpses of God articles, click here.

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