Producer Brian Eno on working with U2 and Coldplay at the same time.
It was fine. A few jokes. I felt like a philanderer who was with another woman and might make a slip and call her by the wrong name in bed. I had one computer that had all of the Coldplay stuff and all the U2 stuff. I had to very carefully label each folder because I was paranoid that I might end up with the same basic track for each group and I wouldn't notice until it was too late. There was a chance the same track might have appeared on both albums.
via guardian.co.uk
So it's not your imagination - they sound alike for a reason.