Coldplay recently allured us with their Ghost Stories, released on 16 May 2014 and they are now ready to reenter the studio and create their A Head Full of Dreams, which is scheduled for the following year. The English alternative rock band is restless and their freshly unveiled track entitled ‘’Miracles’’ proves that their work is also fit for cinematographic productions – the song is to act as soundtrack for the war drama Angelina Jolie-directed Unbroken.
Although it is attached to a war movie tackling on the suffering of an Olympic runner, Louis Zamperini – and on his Japanese camp experience, ”Miracles” is an uplifting piece, with a soothing Coldplay-ish sound to it. Rolling Stone accurately compared the line of the single with their quite recent ”Ink”, but the lyrics and the overall message of their latest is without doubt more profound and moving that the former release. Being destined to accompany the impressive story of Louis Zamperini, the track had to deal with deeper symbols than tattoos, although love (or the absence of it) is a theme present in both singles.
”Miracles” is a piano driven record and has a tender beat to it, which gives vitality to a dreamy-themed piece. At first glance and without connecting it to the drama movie, the track might be considered just another Coldplay love song, but adding the drama war element of Unbroken turns the single into a thrilling, shivers down your spine piece and this because it so beautifully remembers of the sufferings and torture in the biopic.
Even the title, ”Miracles”, hints at the idea of uncommon, heroic achievements – the track is the anthem of a war hero, after all – ‘’I blossom and die/ Send your storm and your lightning to strike/ Right between the eyes’’, sings Chris Martin, lead vocalist. The Buddhist creed of reincarnation ‘’I blossom and die’’ is whispered to the hero of the track/ movie by no one else than the angels singing ‘’From up above’’, which gives the track an unearthly dimension. Linkage with humanity is nonetheless made with the aid of the recurring line ‘’ I’m floating up above the world now’’, but the presence is still a fluid one, inconsistent and dreamy. The connection with the hero’s wandering in the waters before being taken prisoner by the Japanese forces is only hinted at: he is not flying in the air, but ‘’floating up above’’.
Unbroken Original Soundtrack will be released on Monday, 15 December by Parlophone and Atlantic Records. The drama movie Unbroken will open on 25 December.