NEWS: THE CORAL as retro console audio!

The Coral’s legendary debut album re-recorded for release in 8-bit

Legendary Mersey-psych five-piece’s bassist, Paul Duffy, reveals Shadows Fall in lo-tech computerised format

Paul Duffy presents… The Coral Caves Of Illusion
Debut Album Celebration
Released Fri 5 September 2025
CD / ‘Games Box’ Cassette / Red Vinyl + Retro Playing Cards
AV8 Records
Pre-Orders: av8recordsltd.co.uk

WATCH / LISTEN

The Coral’s era-defining, 2002 self-titled debut album, from which classics such as Dreaming Of You and Skeleton Key emerged as noughties indie staples, has been re-recorded for fresh release in lo-fi, 8-bit form. Revealing the band and their first masterpiece as they have never been heard before, the full 11-track album has been reworked by the band’s co-founder and bassist, Paul Duffy, who has revealed Shadows Fall in retro arcade form as AV8 Records announce a Fri 5 September 2025 release date.

Continuing the band’s late-career glide into a status assured for only the most innovative and enduring of artists, thanks in part to their fearless concept albums Coral Island (2021) and Sea Of Mirrors (2023), The Coral Caves Of Illusion – Debut Album Celebration continues the band’s unorthodox path through the music industry, as told in the film, Dreaming Of You. Directed by long-term visual collaborator, James Slater and telling the story of the band’s formation, the recording of The Coral and the hype that followed, the documentary was premiered last month at Sheffield Doc Fest.

All films are due their own soundtrack and Duffy’s response to the call to create something typically off-centre was to return to the band’s collective interests in niche popular culture, especially the rudimentary digital technology of late-80’s and early-90’s. Using the miniBit platform, Duffy worked from primitive waveforms to re-craft each song in precise detail after asking himself: “How do I make it sound like my favourite level on Sonic or Mickey Mouse’s ‘Castle Of Illusion’?”

After testing out just one track, the band urged him to go the whole distance. Accompanied by a video created by Dom Foster, fans of the band and primitive digital technologies now have the chance to hear Shadows Fall as never heard before.

He says: “We were in the process of filming the documentary and James asked Nick Power (keyboards) if anyone could make an 8-bit version of ‘Shadows Fall’ for a short scene in which we were depicted as pixel characters. Nick said; “Duffy’s your man.” I’ve always been a bit of a gamer, so it was perfect for me. Everyone loved it so much that they said do the whole first album in 8-bit. Now it’s featured throughout the documentary”

Specialists in collectors’ vinyl releases and reissues of overlooked albums, AV8 Records release The Coral Caves Of Illusion with high demand expected for a limited-edition, red vinyl pressing with a collection of 80’s-influenced gaming cards in seven designs, including one for each member of the band’s original line-up. With playful artwork created by Matthew Dolan, The Coral Caves Of Illusion Games Box Audio Cassette version, limited to just 40 copies, mimics the distinct aesthetic of ‘back in the day’ game cartridges, with a standard CD version making up the multi-format release.

Pre-orders are open for the release via the label’s website at av8recordsltd.co.uk

The Coral formed in Hoylake in 1996, uniting around the possibilities that the rise of Oasis offered six teenagers stranded by the Wirral’s coast. The original line-up of James Skelly, Paul Duffy, Nick Power, Bill Ryder-Jones, Ian Skelly and Lee Southall recorded The Coral with producer, Ian Broudie and released it via Deltasonic/Sony on Mon 29 July 2002. It reached the UK Official Album Charts Top Five and launched the band into a three-decade-long career which now spans 12 studio albums.

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