Coldplay have shared their first new song since 2011’s Mylo Xyloto. As Consequence of Sound points out, this is also the London band’s first original song for a film soundtrack, arriving in support of November 22’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Fittingly expansive “Atlas” finds Chris Martin cooing at the cosmos over a celestial backing of twinkling piano keys and creeping atmosphere. While the song does bust wide open around the two-and-a-half-minute mark, the shifts in mood are due mostly to the rock-solid vocal performance. It’s MOR music, to be sure, but Coldplay imbue it with a certain heartfelt bigness that isn’t to be overlooked. And the themes are just as large, of course. Appropos to all of it, the lyric video for “Atlas,” seen above, revolves around galactic imagery, evoking constellations and the idea of a watchful eye in the sky as the song echoes forth.
Coldplay Return With Expansive ‘Atlas’ From ‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’
