The legendary rock band, The Coral, have shared news of an exciting twist on their self-titled debut album from 2002. The band have been re-recording their hit tracks in an 8-bit retro video game style to release for a new album ‘The Coral Caves Of Illusion– Debut Album Celebration’. They’ll be releasing this fresh record on 5 September.
Bassist Paul Duffy has been at the heart of production, using the miniBit platform to reinvent their legendary tracks that pushed the album to number 5 on the Official Album Charts. The band have shared their reworking of hit song ‘Shadows Fall’ on Soundcloud, which was reuploaded by fans on YouTube. The haunting, electronic rock song makes a fresh transition to 8-bit, bringing out the jovial sonic breaks in its original release.
Duffy explained how the concept came to be in an interview with NME. He said, “We were in the process of filming the documentary and James asked Nick Power (keyboards) if anyone could make an 8-bit version of ‘Shadows Fall’ for a short scene in which we were depicted as pixel characters.”
The band loved this reworking of the track and Power said, “I’ve always been a bit of a gamer, so it was perfect for me. Everyone loved it so much that they said do the whole first album in 8-bit. Now it’s featured throughout the documentary.”
The documentary in question is another massive project the band have recently worked on. The Dreaming Of You film premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest on 21 June, sharing the story of the musicians’ rise to fame in the early 2000s Bandwagon club scene. Directed by James Slater, the film was described as “a nostalgic, immersive coming-of-age documentary charting the rise of The Coral, six childhood mates from the Wirral who turned suburban misfit energy into musical magic.”
We can expect the film’s namesake ‘Dreaming Of You’ to feature on ‘The Coral Caves Of Illusion– Debut Album Celebration’, a well-anticipated re-release considering its addictive, jumpy rock beat.
The Coral have been playing some huge shows this summer supporting Elbow, Blossoms, Kaiser Chiefs and Supergrass across the UK. They’ll be continuing their rock-filled summer with gigs in London and Liverpool as well as a slot at this year’s Lazydays Festival. Find tickets and updates on the band’s official website and pre-order their upcoming album here.
