The Coral - Move Through The Dawn

As fawning fanboys of the ‘60s, The Coral’s psych-indebted wackiness was always more than enough to set them apart. Yet, they eventually seemed to be losing their way after a string of long-playing gems.

Luckily, 2016’s ‘Distance Inbetween’ managed to assuage this, giving us our first glimpse of a group easing into a new phase. ‘Move Through The Dawn’ builds on this exciting rebirth, elegantly showcasing The Coral’s two modes: maverick psychedelia and tight folk-rock. Opening pair ‘Eyes Like Pearls’ and ‘Reaching Out For A Friend’ best exemplify the latter, both upbeat, lovelorn and infectious ditties that keep a lid on the group’s more manic tendencies. Later, ‘Eyes of the Moon’ injects some characteristic melancholy into proceedings, its queasy sentiments of an alluring femme fatale trundling forth over the purest of melodies.

What’s most gripping, though, is when James Skelly and co indulge their weirdness and revive the lysergic energies of yore. Lead single ‘Sweet Release’ boasts a crystalline chorus backed by some woozy guitar, stunning album highlight ‘Love Or Solution’ mixes magical falsetto with sparkling organ keys on a track brimming with hallucinogenic whimsy and ‘She’s A Runaway’, a mesmerising electro-acoustic union, underlines their serious knack for penning absorbing psychedelic anthems. Not to forget the compelling early Floydian thrust of ‘Outside My Window’.

The Coral may have been at this game for nigh-on two decades but there’s scarcely a moment here that seems tired or phoned-in. Instead, the Wirral lads have added another fascinating work to their canon.