Can it really be 14 years since the Coral’s debut album? The playful, genre-bending band of that record have since metamorphosed, quite naturally, but the spirit of psychedelic exploration is very much present on their first set of new songs since 2010. The mood is glowering and foreboding: the drone is very much in evidence, along with north African influences that give Distance Inbetween the air of a sandstorm swirling around the listener. The opening trio of tracks are like an extended mood piece, and even when they give way to the title track, a ballad, there’s no let up in intensity – James Skelly sounds like a garage band Scott Walker, crooning over minor keys – and it’s straight from that to the controlled, fuzzy attack of Million Eyes. The lyrics do, very occasionally, feel a bit phoned in – does a holy revelation really have to be such a sweet sensation? – but that’s a minor quibble about an album this purposeful and tense.
