With their debut major label single alone, the emotion-fortified "Shiver", Coldplay prove they can shift between elated and crushed in a breath, as singer Chris Martin pours out music's oldest chestnut (unconditional yet unrequited love) with the shakiest of voices and a backdrop of epic guitars.

Martin adds newfound meaning to the most tired and overused rock sentiments - love found, love lost, love unrequited - over acoustic guitars and emotionally fraught rock. And for once, all the cliches ring true because he genuinely sounds like a man picking over the bones of his life, coming up with just as many reasons to be cheerful as seriously depressed.

Not that Parachutes is a depressing album - there's too much conviction to the guitars and hope in martin's words for that. Instead it's a beautifully tender balance that comes as close to perfection as anything that's come before it.