Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

Released in 2008, this is the album that made my work renowned around the world.

I’m aware that it may sound rather pompous and arrogant to say this… but I have to admit that since then my career as string arranger and producer has been really taking off in a big way.

And this is all thanks to Chris, Jonny, Guy, Will and Phil, who welcomed me into their Coldplay’s world in such an open and trustful way, that I’m still so grateful for how it all went.

This has been my very first big collaboration with an artist of the caliber of Coldplay in such a deep and involved manner.

I remember visiting The Bakery with Guy back in September 2006, when the studio was still under construction. That was the time I met with the band’s engineer Rik Simpson for the first time. Rik later became one of the producers of the album alongside Markus Dravs and Brian Eno.

In November 2006 we started working full-time on demos, for a period that was going to last three months with virtually no breaks. Just a few weeks in and Eno joined us, bringing with him a couple of extra players, one of them being Jon Hopkins, who was going to be with myself one of the main ‘external’ collaborators of the album.

A year and a half later the work was done, after countless sessions and after recording more than 30 or 40 songs??? (I honestly can’t remember).

Ten made it to the album and my work was featured on six of them. These were Life In Technicolor, 42, Yes, Viva La Vida, Violet Hill and Strawberry Swing.