Music doesn't come more touching than Parachutes. With their debut single alone, the emotion-fortified "Shiver", Coldplay proved they could shift between elated and crushed in a breath as singer Chris Martin poured out music's oldest chestnut (unconditional yet unrequited love) with the shakiest of voices and a backdrop of epic guitars that rouse and tug at the heartstrings.

For 10 tracks on Parachutes, he comes out with these, adding new-found meaning to the most tired and overused rock sentiments-love found, love lost, love unrequited, hurting the ones you love and the struggle that is life--over acoustic guitars and emotionally fraught rock. And for once, all the cliches ring true, thanks to Chris Martin genuinely sounding like a man picking over the bones of his life and soul, coming up with equal parts reasons to be cheerful and 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.