The Coral Sea Of Mirrors 2023 (c) Simon Cardwell
photo: Simon Cardwell

The Coral announce 2 new albums, share "Wild Bird"

Long-running Liverpool band The Coral will release two new albums in September, Sea of Mirrors and Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show, and both are out September 8 via Moder Sky. Between the two, the albums feature former member Bill Ryder-Jones, as well as actors Cillian Murphy and John Simm, and Love guitarist Johnny Echols.

Sea of Mirrors is the band’s “proper” 11th studio album, and was co-produced by The High LlamasSean O’Hagan, who also provided string arrangements. The album was inspired by spaghetti westerns, with a sun-baked Morricone-esque flair added to the band’s signature merseyside sound. The first single is the sweeping “Wild Bird,” which has one of O’Hagan’s great string arrangements. “Like most of The Coral’s best known songs you could pick out, it was written in about five minutes,” says bandleader James Skelly. “Once the album concept was clear, this was us imagining the theme tune for an Italian western directed by Fellini with a Richard Yates-written script. It’s us asking ourselves: what would have happened if Lee Hazlewood had produced a Gene Pitney song written by Townes Van Zandt?” You can watch the video, and listen b-side “It Was Only Love,” below.

As for the other album, Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show will be a physical release with a one-time-only vinyl/CD/cassette pressing, and is described as a bridge between their great 2021 album Coral Island and Sea of Mirrors, and “brings James and Ian Skelly’s grandad a.k.a The Great Muriarty back into the fold for the narrated post-script to one of The Coral’s most successful albums to date.”

Check out the artwork and tracklists for both albums below.

attachment-The Coral Sea Of Mirrors Artwork

Sea of Mirrors:
1. The Actor And The Cardboard Cowboy
2. Cycles Of The Seasons
3. Faraway Worlds
4. Wild Bird
5. North Wind
6. Eleanor
7. Sea Of Mirrors
8. That’s Where She Belongs
9. The Way You Are
10. Dream River
11. Child Of The Moon
12. Almeria
13. Oceans Apart

attachment-the coral - holy joe

Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show
1. Holy Joe (Sounds From The Other Side)
2. The Sinner
3. Hotel
4. Holy Joe (Hitchhiker At The Highway’s Edge)
5. Affiliation
6. Leave This Town
7. The Road Is Calling
8. Holy Joe (Rita Is Having A Bad One)
9. Never Be In Love Like That Again
10. Drifter’s Prayer
11. Holy Joe (Bobby And Faith)
12. Long Drive To The City
13. Down By The Riverside
14. Holy Joe (The Graveyard Shift)
15. Baby Face Nelson
16. Holy Joe (A Wise Man Once Said)
17. The Coral Island Killer
18. Holy Joe (Let The Credits Roll)