The Coral: Nightfreak & The Sons of Becker

In spite of its origin as an album of filler - studio creations cobbled together on the spot between albums - the Coral's 2004 rag-and-bone set is probably the album of theirs I have spent the most time with. Without the constraints of sounding commercial or poppy, the coral turned out a set that was remarkably, invitingly dark and lonely. Most of the best songs are alienating in their weirdness, like the eerie "Song of the Corn" or the echoing, shadowy funk of "Grey Harpoon." The latter song pleads "Please don't let the light through my window / Keep the curtain shut, it brings me good luck." "Keep Me Company" is one that drags you over the coals, with its plodding pace and quivering vocal. There's such a sweet contrast between the defeated verse and the hopeful chorus: "But you could keep my company / Like an old memory..."

Elsewhere, the band cuts loose on a few speedy jams, like "I Forgot My Name," "Auntie's Operation" or "Migraine," where they sound ragged and ready to collapse. The opening tracks, "Precious Eyes" and "Venom Cable" are the slickest, most "complete" or conventionally good, and even they're pretty odd. And the album ends with what sounds like an old Victrola recording from the interwar years, "Lover's Paradise," painting an almost psychedelic ideal to leave off with.

This is a brooding, sullen, not-very-inviting album. It's not the first call when you want great songcraft or impressive musicianship, but for mood it almost can't be beat. I love to walk around listening to this album on rainy nights, because this album is very much what loneliness sounds like to me. And that's what music ultimately should be, an attempt to evoke moods and feelings and memories, through all the means available. This album wasn't intended to be much, but probably because of that it succeeds in offering a lot to anyone who's ready to put up with some weirdness.

Buy this album! iTunes Canada // iTunes USA

Serious Contenders: The Coral, "Liezah"

When I was younger I was weird about music. I like to think I always had my tastes, but my selection was unrefined. It was completely random what I would find and get attached to, leading to a bunch of bands I found out about randomly and took as my own, while they escaped my friends' notice.

That's the case with The Coral. I remember brandishing their CDs in high school and everyone I knew would go "What does this sound like?" And I'd play it for them and they'd just look at me and go "Uh...? Kay." But hell, they're all into Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons now, so maybe they weren't ready.

Each album they released impressed me less and less (although Butterfly House was a real upturn) but those early albums had a real greatness to them that holds up for me. The first was trailblazingly odd, alive with fire and inspiration and confidence in its own uniqueness. Their second, which this comes from, was still quirky, but also loaded with straightforward and earnest moments.

The Coral: Butterfly House Acoustic

Here's a problematic review. Not long after I set out on this adventure of a blog, I learned that The Coral (a band I much admire) had just released a new album, Butterfly House, and it was getting very positive notices (after a few tepidly-received releases.) So I promptly placed an order at my store, and long, long after, it arrived. Except it wasn't.

The proper version of Butterfly House was not released here. All they had for me was this stripped-down acoustic version. I was skeptical. Even now it's taken me a long time to sitting down to collect my thoughts on the album. The sound of the album, the constant plucked acoustics and mellow crooning, means it fades into the background not only of your life but of your mind. I found myself hard pressed to remember even the songs I liked hearing. I would remember a snippet here or there and have trouble placing it. But when you hit play it starts to come back.

The 13 songs on this album are, from a songwriting standpoint, among the finest the band has served up. I don't mean to denigrate the band's other releases, but there's a striking difference here. The band left a lot of its manic energy behind after the first few albums, but here I finally get a sense of what path they wanted to take out of it. It's sentimental and delicate and very sweet and honest and accessible. The acoustic guitars overlap and melt sweetly into each other.

The acoustic sound is great. It's not bare or stark sounding at all. It's very lush and well-instrumented. It never feels like a demo or an interpretation, or even close to raw like Nick Drake or something. The album's warmth is helped by some beautiful harmony vocals and James Skelley's strongest overall vocal performance. The songs all take a very innocent, doe-eyed tact toward romantic relationships (and memories and moments) that evokes the 60's as strongly (or stronger) than any of their previous albums. Sometimes on their previous release I'd sense something exciting happening and then they'd take a turn that broke the mood for me, but here's probably their first record I can listen to straight through. And I loved those first ones, and the later ones all have highlights too. While they may have better individual songs on every album, I think no set has been as consistently good.

In researching for this review, I did listen, just once, to the full-out proper versions of these songs. A lot of the tracks translate well. Some, like "Sandhills," "She's Comin' Around" and "North Parade," being most electric-driven, lose something, but also take on a new character. "Coney Island" feels totally different.

None of those songs is worse the wear for the acoustic treatment, but there are a lot of songs here that particularly lend themselves to it. "Walking in the Winter," "Falling All Around You" and "Two Faces" are moments of real beauty. I think the thing about an acoustic album is that our brains are wired to interpret those sounds as being honest, from-the-heart and off-the-cuff statements, unfiltered by studio production (even when they are.) Here, being so exquisitely orchestrated only enhances that feeling, that even peeling back the layers of performance, you still have something very showy and glossy, and very personal at the same time.

Buy the Regular version or Acoustic version from Amazon!





And since the proper album is a bit tough to get a hold of, it's all on YouTube. Here's what we're talking about: