More about: The CoralIan Skelly

Sharing with us the first taste of his latest album in the form of the effortless ‘Captain Caveman’, The Coral drummer Ian Skelly has produced an un-demoed stream of consciousness that he recorded after returning from Berlin in 2019 and has named Drifter’s Skyline, to be released 31 July. 

With no inhibitions, it’s almost childlike in its joy and warmth: Skelly says: “It came from an instrumental that Phil had figured out, so I threw some tongue-in-cheek, bubble-gum lyrics on it. It’s inspired by a mate of The Coral’s, Steve Adj, who’d be messing around in hotel rooms on tour, churning out these daft ‘dooby-dah’ songs. It’s like going back to being a kid.” Listen below:

Warm sounds twist and curl effortlessly, as melodies noodle together and Skelly rolls out lyrics that have no actual meaning: “Sha Lang, Sha Lang / Oogum Boogum, Rolling Stones / Flying Burritos and Country Joe / Watch Captain Caveman save the day”. 

Although music is crucially used as a mouthpiece for change and political action and contemplation, often there’s value in music that is created for pure escapism, and provides some respite from our frankly quite traumatic current situation, sounding like it could soundtrack *that* scene in a film where the characters are in a car with the windows down, and there’s a long open road stretching out ahead, with the gentle breeze fluttering their hair, as the world slips by. The musical embodiment of a Drifter’s Skyline. 

Drifter’s Skyline is released on 31 July.

More about: The CoralIan Skelly