Merseyside's psych-rock sorcerers, The Coral, have finally released their first-ever Christmas single, a strangely sinister track titled "She Died On Christmas Day." After three decades and twelve albums without a festive release, the band delivers a brilliant, if darkly burnished, bauble of December malcontent.
The song arrives as the band's first new music since their 2023 Top Five album, Sea Of Mirrors. Trading traditional yuletide cheer for ghoulish storytelling, The Coral continues their mastery of subtly sinister songcraft, drawing inspiration from mid-20th-century crooners who sang of lost loves and eerie tales.
"She Died On Christmas Day" is described as eerily resplendent, featuring fuzzed, fairground announcement vocals and the crying lines of a dusty ballroom organ. It's a uniquely inimitable take on the seasonal single, leaning into the darker, more unsettling aspects of the festive period.
The track is available digitally and as a limited edition 7” vinyl package titled Christmas On Coral Island. This special release includes the track "The Great Muriarty," which features the final narration from the band’s late-grandfather, Ian Murray (The Great Muriarty). His dramatic presence, which set the scene on the albums Coral Island and Holy Joe's Coral Island Medicine Show, expertly returns to the A-side.
Nick Power, the band’s keyboardist, explains the influence: “We love fifties and early sixties rock n’roll... To us, it’s the sound of where we grew up: New Brighton and the fair, the lost piers, the thrill and danger of towns at the end of existence. If there’s an opening where we get to explore that side of us, we’re always up for it.”
This release caps a significant year for the band, which saw the premiere of the acclaimed documentary Dreaming Of You at Sheffield Doc Fest, charting the unlikely formation of one of Britain’s most revered bands.
"She Died On Christmas Day" is out now on Run On Records in association with Modern Sky UK.
