Kaleidoscope’s existence is ultimately justified by the two songs that reach into the band’s past. Big Sean feature “Miracles (Someone Special)” fares better, if only because he and Martin are kindred spirits: charming, good-natured presences incapable of resisting their worst lyrical impulses. A stadium full of eager fans can’t save it. Lesser Coldplay material can sometimes find redemption through thousands of voices singing in unison, but “Something Just Like This” is the sound of Martin at his smarmiest. Kaleidoscope avoids the studio version for the “Tokyo Remix,” a live take from the band’s mammoth (and ongoing) tour that’s all but indistinguishable from the original in terms of intensity and instrumentation. There’s a version of “Something Just Like This” on here, though maybe not the one you’d expect. It’s more of a grab-bag than a coherent release: one-off collaborations and ill-fitting outtakes share space with songs that unexpectedly revisit the sound and spirit of Coldplay’s creative peak. Kaleidoscope is coming out more than 18 months after A Head Full of Dreams, and it largely lacks that album’s blinding sheen and radiant optimism. Prospekt’s March was a clear product of the writing and recording that resulted in Viva La Vida it was released during the same year, and featured several instances of remixed or revised material that appeared on the parent album first.

The obvious analogue in the Coldplay discography is the Viva La Vida companion EP Prospekt’s March, but there are some key differences separating the two minor efforts. Kaleidoscope, the band’s new EP, is their first release in years that feels more like a clearing of the throat than a new, distinct statement.

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