The cover translates the album title into a binary code where each block of colour represents a 1 and a gap 0."ĭu Sautoy proceeds to decode the symbol. More recently, in the same newspaper's weekly science supplement, Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at Oxford, wrote gleefully: "If you don't want me to spoil the excitement of working out Coldplay's new album cover, look away now. Is it phallic? Is it a coded celebrity portrait? Guys, guys - have you thought of asking: is it art?" To the NME and the websites apparently obsessed with this image, it is, however, a cross between the Da Vinci Code and Fermat's last theorem: the great brain-teaser of our time. They themselves cite 1940s mathematical abstraction.
It's this graphic puzzle - rather than the "design" - that is causing the sleeve to be subjected to the sort of scrutiny not normally given to contemporary album covers, or graphic design in general, for that matter.īlue Monday by New Order, designed by Peter Saville, Factory, 1983.Īs early as April, Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones noted: "The designers, Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton, have created a digital logo which echoes every modernist school of painting from suprematism to De Stijl. And just as Saville did on his notorious floppy disk sleeve for New Order's 12-inch single "Blue Monday" and his album cover for the same band's Power, Corruption and Lies, both from 1983, Tappin Gofton use an enigmatic colour code and invite the viewer to decipher its meaning. To render the Coldplay name and album title, Tappin Gofton use Albertus, a typeface Saville deployed to memorable effect on the cover of New Order's single "Ceremony" in 1981. It has dark echoes of Peter Saville's epochal Factory covers. You wouldn't call it a classic, but it has an unexpected severity that lifts it above the anodyne and cosmeticised design currently favoured by multi-platinum selling artists. Their last album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, sold 11 million copies and it's easy to imagine EMI's shareholders forgiving Martin's lippiness if sales of X&Y exceed that figure. Middle class, privately educated and married to Hollywood royalty, he and his band generate enough income to equal the earnings of a small corporation. I think shareholders are the greatest evil of this modern world." Martin is an unlikely candidate to announce the end of capitalism. Gwyneth Paltrow) responded by announcing: "I don't really care about EMI. Lead singer Chris Martin (referred to in the UK tabloid press as Mr. Earlier this year, their British record label EMI was forced to issue a profits warning to its shareholders when the band delayed the release of X&Y. With the record industry's habitual love of hyperbole, Coldplay are being touted as the "world's biggest band". Their work for Coldplay's third album establishes them as a new force in contemporary music design. Until the appearance of their Coldplay sleeve, Tappin Gofton were best known for their 1960s-style "agit-prop" cover for The Chemical Brothers album Push the Button. They have good pedigrees: Mark Tappin was at Blue Source, Simon Gofton at Tom Hingston Studio, both important studios in the UK music design scene. The Coldplay sleeve has been designed by hot new graphics duo Tappin Gofton. Odder still that the album cover in question - Coldplay's X&Y - should contain binary data as its central motif. ‘Higher Power's music video has the band performing on the planet Kaotica, which is "inhabited by robot dogs, gigantic holograms, and a street-gang of dancing aliens." Chris also revealed that the whole album would be based on the fictitious planet.X&Y by Coldplay, designed by Tappin Gofton, EMI, 2005.Īt a time when invisible data streams of binary information fed straight to our desktops are doing away with the need for album covers, it's odd to find a record sleeve as the subject of media comment and speculation. Meanwhile, Chris also said that his band's new work was inspired by ‘Star Wars’ after seeing the films and wondering what music sounds like on distant worlds. It is also claimed that Martin composed the song just for Gomez, and that they are planning a "special live performance." The next song, ‘Let Someone Go’, is reported to be ready for release soon and will purportedly appear on the new album. However, Martin's remarks came after rumors that the Grammy winners had produced a new song with singer Selena Gomez in an effort to attract a younger audience.
He stressed, however, that the ‘Paradise’ hitmakers would not be hanging up their mics for good, as the singer wants the band, which also includes Guy Berryman, 43, Will Champion, 43, and Jonny Buckland, 44, to perform live concerts into their 70s. This is not a joke, this is true, I think after 12, that will be the end of our catalogue," Martin said in an interview.
"I think that in a few albums time we will finish making albums.