PREPARE for Coldplay’s ‘Rumours’ record. Chris Martin’s ‘conscious uncoupling’ with Gwyneth Paltrow has taken whatever joy remained in the frontman’s heart and made him introspective and mournful.

Where there were anthems – Yellow, Viva la Vida, Fix You, Paradise – now there is whimpering and, not to put too fine a point on it, a little bit of wailing as well. “If you don’t love me, lie to me,” Martin despairs on True Love, while Midnight, with its distorted electronic vocal and funereal melody, sounds a touch like a Gregorian chant.

This is unchartered territory for the four-piece, whose chart-topping success has been built on soothing us emotionally, but if it is cathartic for Martin to bear his soul like this then it is also of immense benefit to listeners. What has resulted is Coldplay’s best effort since A Rush Of Blood To The Head more than a decade ago. Stripped bare, shorn of all Martin’s usual pretentiousness, Ghost Stories is a peek at a man in pain – and it’s a triumph.