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The Guardian FEBRUARY 3, 2009 - by Sean Michaels

COLDPLAY DUMPS CHRIS MARTIN FOR NEW ALBUM

No, the world's biggest mope patrol haven't given their sergeant major the boot. Producer Brian Eno has banned him from the studio for a fortnight to let the rest of the band experiment.

Coldplay may be back in the studio, starting work on their next album - but they're doing it without Chris Martin.

The frontman, singer and lyricist has been barred from early recording sessions, with producer Brian Eno instructing the rest of the band to keep Martin away.

"He said that it would be better without me for the first two weeks," Martin explained to Absolute Radio. "'You can do better without the singer!' he said. It has turned out to be a good idea though because the band's been free to try out loads of weird things without me getting in the way."

Coldplay may be back in the studio, starting work on their next album - but they're doing it without Chris Martin. The frontman, singer and lyricist has been barred from early recording sessions, with producer Brian Eno instructing the rest of the band to keep Martin away.

Martin was enough of a nuisance in the Viva La Vida sessions, it seems, that Eno wrote the band a letter before agreeing to work with them again. "[Eno] said that he thought the last album was OK but it could have been much better," Martin said. "He said that he still wanted to work with us on the next album but that I was banned from the studio."

Of course, it is only a matter of time before Eno will be forced to re-admit Martin, letting him once again run rampant over the rest of the band's experimentation. Gone will be the squalls of feedback - replaced with catchy piano lines. Farewell to fifteen-minute sound collages - swapped for three-minute singles. And goodbye to market failure - Martin's sure, for all his failings, to turn their recordings into hits.