It’s been more than 20 years since “Yellow” introduced the world to Coldplay at their best: hopelessly romantic but not treacly, full of wonder but grounded in the present.

Chris Martin’s falsetto can sound mournful, as if the object of his affection has already moved on, while guitarist Jonny Buckland’s distorted chords are slightly sour, hinting at turmoil in the undertow.

Even Jar Jar Binks himself might look askance at Coldplay’s latest CGI abomination of a video, featuring dancing alien ducks among other extraterrestrials possibly kidnapped from an off-brand theme park.

Their first was 2008’s “Viva La Vida,” a song that tactfully expanded what Coldplay could sound like after the creative dead-end of their third LP, 2005’s X&Y1

Back then, Chris described Coldplay’s ethos thusly: “We can’t possibly get any bigger, let’s just get better.” The clamorous immensity of Spheres suggests the band’s philosophy has been inverted: Coldplay can’t top what they’ve already done artistically, but maybe they can score several billion more streams anyway.

“You are my universe, and I just want to put you fi-i-irst,” Chris proclaims, adding some uncharacteristic finesse to the last word, like Mick Jagger might.

Chris reacts with his most affecting vocal performance on the whole record, nostalgic and enchanting—which is especially impressive since he spends half the song pitched-up to sound like a squeaky alien.

“When you love me, love me, love me,” Chris sings, “I know I’ll be on top of the world, man.” It doesn’t look like much on paper, but the magic of this band at their most powerful has everything to do with their ability to turn something you’ve heard before—a phrase, a guitar echo—into something you want to hear over and over again.

Instead, the record is more accurately represented by the video for “Higher Power,” where Chris walks toward the camera in a way that might bring your mind back to the first time you ever saw him.

He’s on a desolate orb called (checks notes) Kaotica, surrounded by a Blade Runner algorithm of a cityscape and dancing like the last wedding singer alive.