NEW YORK (AFP) - Coldplay on Thursday (March 2) released a piano ballad in surprise new music by the English rockers to mark frontman Chris Martin's 40th birthday.
Hypnotised, described by the band as a "new non-single song," is the first track off an EP entitled Kaleidoscope announced for June 2.
Hypnotised starts off with dream-like chimes and piano with hints of Sigur Ros before turning into a more traditional rock ballad.
The song - in which Martin confesses he's "never gonna be a saint" but finds renewal through love - is accompanied by a soothing video with images of the sea.
A Coldplay statement described the EP as a "sister release" to the band's last album A Head Full Of Dreams, which featured a song called Kaleidoscope.
Besides Hypnotised, Kaleidoscope features Something Just Like This - Coldplay's recent collaboration with chart-topping New York electronic duo The Chainsmokers - and three yet-to-be released songs.
Coldplay, which has enjoyed worldwide success since its debut album Parachutes in 2000, had hinted that A Head Full Of Dreams may be its swan song when it came out in late 2015.
Coldplay has gone on a marathon global tour for A Head Full Of Dreams.
An Asian leg opens on March 31 in Singapore before second rounds through Europe and North America.
The group will also headline a new Global Citizen festival in Hamburg on July 6 to press leaders of the Group of 20 major economies to work to end extreme poverty in the developing world.