Self-deprecation can’t slow Coldplay

Critics may be awarding Chris Martin gold stars for Coldplay’s new album, but he flunks the rock-star test when it comes to swagger.

In a field notorious for outsized egos and overweening braggarts, the singer delights in denigrating himself and brandishing his imperfections the way his peers flash tattoos.

Describing the surfeit of material crafted for “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” due out Tuesday, Martin cracks: “We write a lot of songs, and most are even worse than the ones we release.”

And where does the band’s fourth album rate among its predecessors?

“It’s definitely in the top four,” he replies.

Pressed to confess one positive aspect about his contribution to “Viva,” he finally summons a boast. Sort of.

“I tried really hard,” says Martin, 31. “I give myself an A for effort and man-hours. But I’m not going to claim to be as talented as Usher or Beyonce.”

Martin’s waggish diffidence has obvious charm, but his insecurities seem unwarranted.

Coldplay ranks alongside U2 and Radiohead as rock’s biggest global sensations, a reputation that seems safe with the arrival of “Viva.”

The bold 10-track set captures the band’s live energy and experiments with dissonance, grooves, adventurous arrangements and Eastern rhythms without abandoning such core strengths as big hooks, emotional saturation and sumptuous melodies.

In the U.K., the Telegraph dubbed “Viva” “bright, warm, rich and strikingly memorable,” while The Independent sneered: “It’s the new Gold Standard of Average Music.”

Martin stopped reading reviews after The New York Times skewered “X&Y” in 2005.

“I’ll only get depressed,” he says. “What I took from that is, we have to try as hard as we humanly can so people don’t part with their money unnecessarily.”

Martin credits producers Brian Eno and Markus Dravs – who worked with Coldplay heroes U2 and Arcade Fire, respectively – for pushing Coldplay to stretch. Eno enlisted a hypnotist to coax subconscious input.

The sessions resulted in riffs and sounds for “42,” “Strawberry Swing” and an unfinished track that may pop up later, along with a vocal version of instrumental “Life In Technicolor” and a duet with Kylie Minogue.

The latter was cut from “Viva,” not for being “too sexy” – as Martin joked in a widely reported radio interview – but “because it’s not finished,” he says, predicting a release in late 2009.

Martin, bassist Guy Berryman, guitarist Jonny Buckland and drummer Will Champion shaped “Viva” in their new London studio, a renovated bakery that he says “put the focus on the band.”

Explains Martin: “We didn’t have our friends, kids, girlfriends or wives there. It was sort of Harry Potterish and magic.”

The studio is minutes from the home he shares with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he married in 2003, and their daughter, Apple, and son, Moses.

He’s mum on his private life, acknowledging only that “there are elements that are not so brilliant, but the pros always outweigh the cons. I don’t have to worry about gas bills, unless nobody buys a CD again.”

Coldplay has sold 30 million albums since its 2000 debut, “Parachutes.” The last, 2005’s “X&Y,” held Billboard’s No. 1 spot for three weeks straight and eventually sold 10 million copies worldwide, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“Viva” has racked up the tallest pre-release sales in iTunes history, and it’s outselling the top 40 combined at online retailer Play.com. The title track, Coldplay’s hottest single ever, is the No. 1 download with 768,000 sold to date.

Martin is committed to sticking with Coldplay (“Without the band, I would be playing Elton John standards on a cruise ship”), but when he turned 30, he felt qualms about waning creative powers.

“I went to Wikipedia to see how old Michael Stipe was when R.E.M. did ‘Automatic for the People,’ ” he says. “He was two years older (than I was). Jay-Z made ‘The Blueprint’ at 31.

“So it was all OK. I think you are sent good songs between 28 and 33.”

Meanwhile, Martin isn’t procrastinating. While he lavishes some free time on his obsessions for World War II books and Woody Allen films, he’s usually composing pop songs.

“And if I’m fed up with being Mr. Coldplay, I try to pretend I’m Rihanna for a day,” he says. “It’s a far sexier way to spend 24 hours.”