Credit: Far Out / Simon Cardwell

The Coral team up with actor John Simm for ‘Drifter’s Prayer’

Wed 14 June 2023 14:45, UK

British indie rockers The Coral have previewed their ambitious new double LP projects Sea of Mirrors and Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show with a narrative interlude from the latter album, ‘Drifter’s Prayer’.

Along with the standard set of rock tracks, here filtered through the lens of old-time spaghetti westerns, The Coral are also bringing in some hefty acting talent to flesh out the narratives of the two albums. Oppenheimer leading man Cillian Murphy and Love guitarist Johnny Echols are both adding their voices to the project, with ‘Drifter’s Prayer’ featuring the voice of Dr Who actor John Simm.

“Nick [Power, keyboardist] had this poem and we thought that we’d do something with, like a murder ballad,” lead singer James Skelly said in a statement. “He also had this acoustic, country-style riff so we recorded it in the studio and it fitted with the words perfectly but it needed someone to do the narration.”

“We just messaged John, he’d already been to a few gigs, and he said ‘yes’ straight away,” Skelly added. “Nailed it perfectly. He’s a pro. It’s great to be able to see someone like that working, someone who is just that good at doing their job.”

“We were talking about having a spoken word track on the album, but maybe bringing an actor in to voice it,” Power added. “I had the idea of this fairground worker looking back on his life, sort of like a eulogy to the old travelling carnival world and its customs.”

“How those people were their own community, constantly on the move, drifting through England,” Power commented. “And this person coming to terms with the modern world leaving him behind, in a way. John Simm came in and understood it right away. I think it took about two or three takes.”

Check out ‘Drifter’s Prayer’ down below. Sea of Mirrors and Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show are both set for a September 8th release.