The Coral
The Invisible Invasion

THE REVIEW

The trap is the same as always: catchy single heard on the radio, "spend money, see camel", fool who buys the record, but this time we'll outsmart them...
The track in question is "In The Morning", which is a very easy ballad, with its vibraphone and little acoustic guitar and up-tempo drums that we like so much in summer while scoping out the girl under the parasol. Obviously, something like this can't last long, and indeed after two and a half minutes, we return to reality. The Coral of "Invisible Invasion" are not original at all, but they manage to bring out something good too: the coordinates of this album are those of indie with a often elaborate sound, with splashes of electronics and psychedelia.

The dance opens with "She Sings The Morning", a track that would practically belong to Cake ("oops, did I choose the wrong playlist? Oh, no..."), with '50s "monster" atmospheres, a guitar with vibrato (and it seems a tad of chorus too), nursery rhyme singing. It continues with "Cripples Crow": I'd say we're dealing with something along the lines of Franz Ferdinand, with the most out-of-tune guitar solo you can imagine. Here we are at "So Long Ago", a mix of Smiths and Belle & Sebastian: it's a very sustained ballad where the blend of guitars (acoustic + electric) is really enjoyable and the galloping bass contributes to making us tap our fingers chasing the rhythm. "The Operator" offers an acidic organ that reminds of Scooby Doo cartoon music, where electro inserts open the melody in the choruses: the whole thing is veeeery cooked. "Come Home", spacey and melancholic, closes in a turmoil of sounds from a paranoid nightmare that introduces "Far From The Crowd", which for some reason reminds me of the atmosphere in "Tomorrow Parties" by Velvet Underground: maybe it has to be the sense of folk claustrophobia it emits - one of the best tracks on the album. "Leaving Today" starts off like Santana (with a full and round sound), to settle into a sixties ballad. It gets rocky in "Arabian Sand", with a little organ annoying the whole thing, while trying to escape from the "Madman's In The Desert", all very paranoid. The atmosphere is calmest in "Late Afternoon", with a central violin section, one of the most beautiful tracks.

What's the problem with this album? It's that it wants to be catchy but needs multiple listens to be absorbed. The trouble is, I still don't hum any song, after several listens... Plus the tracks are very short, which makes me think dreadfully of a radio-friendly product. Well... judgment pending, to be downloaded. This time too, I fooled you, camel driver!