Coldplay release cryptic artwork hinting at new album

British band Coldplay released cryptic artwork on social media on Tuesday matching a mysterious London Underground poster, leading fans to speculate a new album is due for release.

The interlacing rainbow-coloured rings on a black background had appeared on a poster in the British capital's metro with text reading only "December 4".

Eagle-eyed fans had noticed that the pattern also appeared on a t-shirt worn by frontman Chris Martin at an event in Global Citizen Festival in New York in September.

On Monday and Tuesday the pop rock band released two moving animations of the colourful pattern on its official Twitter and Facebook pages, with fans concluding it was the artwork for a new album.

Last year Martin said that the group was in the process of making an album called "A Head Full of Dreams".

Coldplay's label Parlophone did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by AFP.

If the rumours turn out to be true, the new work would be the group's seventh studio album since it was formed in London in 1996.

Its last album "Ghost Stories", released in 2014, was a return to form for the band after 2011's "Mylo Xyloto", a venture into a more electronic sound that drew mixed reviews.

In all the band has sold over 100 million albums worldwide and won numerous accolades, including seven Grammy Awards, multiple MTV awards and eight Brit Awards.

Their best-known songs include "Yellow", "Viva la Vida", "Clocks", "Princess of China" and "A Sky Full of Stars".