The Confusing Invasion
Reminiscent of the folkishness of Sons And Daughters layered with spooky sounds and droning vocals 'She Sings The Mourning' shows the darker side to The Coral. A bass and drum line provide the base for this song as guitars dance around like the creatures in your hallucinations. Like a trip on speed crossed with the theme to a 60s spy film the opener for 'The Invisible Invasion' will leave you peering round the corners of the next track in curious anticipation.
Heading in a different direction is 'Cripples Crown', a slower indie mover with sulky sounds; the trips are an obvious influence both in sound and lyrics - "Open the door if you dare / Venus fly trap on the stair". In contrast 'So Long Ago' is more upbeat and poppy with nice lyrics with a happy and bouncy feel to it, a good one to jump around to it's the sound of a cliched day at the seaside. Much the same can be said for 'In The Morning' - definitely a pop number but this carries the maturity 'So Long Ago' doesn't.
'The Operator' brings the album back to its original haunting feeling. Much like 'She Sings The Mourning' it gives a feeling of comical evil, but there is an underlying sinister feeling to it all within the lyrics - "The Operators came and took me away, took me away / Everybody laughed, remember the day they took me away..."
After another dose of fear The Coral change again to the woozy pop sounds of the 60s; switching between the slightly trippy and the slightly funky with stomping and stroppy beats. Then you're hit again with that opening sound in 'Far From The Crowd'. After this one, the sound does start to wear on you as you get that 'we've been here before' feeling. 'Leaving Today' pulls the switch back to the recognisable indie-pop of The Coral before producing a more full on version of this in 'Arabian Sand'. 'The Invisible Invasion' is rounded off with a slow and gentle number that sounds exactly like its title a 'Late Afternoon'.
The Live CD features some of their earlier material, and just gives a flavour of what they're like live. Admittedly you wouldn't really know it was live if it weren't for the clapping and cheering of the audience at the end of each track, but it's a cool extra.
The Coral have done well here, but the schizophrenic quality to the sound makes it hard to get to grips with for the first few listens, but after this you start to appreciate the quirkiness of 'The Invisible Invasion'.