Described as a psychedelic album, it drew comparison to the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society (1968), while the narration was reminiscent of that heard on the Small Faces' Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake (1968).
[2] Frontman James Skelly said the band came up with the idea of a concept album while travelling home from Blackpool, that focused on a fictional coastal town.
He added that Coral Island allowed the band's ideas to coalesce under a banner; "[t]he more we sat on it, the more we were like 'you know, we could make our [version of the Beatles'] White Album'".
[7] The acoustic performances and drum sections were recorded live-in-the-studio, and built from there; James and Ian Skelly did the majority of the backing tracks for each song.
[2] In contrast to previous albums, each member of the band arrived at the studio at different times and worked on material separately, sometimes playing different instruments than what they were familiar with.
[7][12] Musically, Coral Island's sound has been described as psychedelic folk, with elements of indie and pop,[13] and compared to the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society (1968).
[3] Skelly said it was directly influenced by Ogdens as that was "one of my favourite albums ever [...] but [we've] taken [our narration] to another level", alongside poets such as Jack Kerouac, Rod McKuen and Dylan Thomas.
[2][19] He suggested asking spiritual medium Derek Acorah, actor Cillian Murphy, boxing champion John Conteh, or comedian Tom O'Connor to do it, until "Ian [Skelly] was like, 'we should get grandad'".
[3][10] James Skelly added that as Coral Island was "a world of end-of-the-pier day drinkers, kids who get where they shouldn't," and other characters, it "seemed to call for a tour guide of some kind".
[3] Several family members and long-time collaborators contributed to the recordings: Phil McKinnell played slide guitar on "Pavillions of the Mind" and "Take Me Back to the Summertime", and guitar on "The Ghost of Coral Island"; Jack Prince provided a shaker on "Lover Undiscovered"; Fiona Skelly and Niamh Rowe sang backing vocals on "Faceless Angel", "Watch You Disappear" and "Last Night at the Borders"; and Taylor added the stylophone on "Watch You Disappear".
[24] "Mist on the River" is a ballad that recalls the sound of the band's second studio album Magic and Medicine (2003); the vocals have been compared to Crosby, Stills and Nash.
[25] The country-indebted "Golden Age" is driven by Power's organ, and is followed by "Faceless Angel", which is seen as a darker iteration of "Johnny Remember Me" (1961) by John Leyton.
[40] "Take Me Back to the Summertime" features Beatlesque vocal harmonies, and talks about losing money while playing penny arcade machines.
[47][48] The band had finished working on Coral Island prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns and had postponed the release because of it; Power theorised that it would have come out around September 2020 had the pandemic not happened.
[5][25] Power explained it featured short stories about each of the characters mentioned throughout the album; he considered it "a mixture between old Coney Island stuff mixed with [film] Brighton Rock, British seaside literature, comic books, in that classic tradition but with more of a modern take on it".
[25] Clash writer Robin Murray saw it as an "extraordinary piece of world building [... that] never once wavers in quality", with a "natural flow, one that holds your attention even at the record's most sonically obtuse moments".
[35] Rhys Buchanan of NME wrote that it was a "bold move" for the Coral to release "something so intricate at this stage of their career", though if the listener immersed themselves in the album, they would be "rewarded with a nostalgic trip that showcases some of their most adventurous writing to date".
[39] In his review for The Telegraph, journalist Neil McCormick said the band seemed to be "having fun, and it shows in a carnivalesque cornucopia of strange delights – even if it never quite escapes its contrivances".
[63] Gigwise's Kieran Macadie compared Coral Island to the Beatles' White Album in that "[b]oth records are an expansive, epic collection of tracks crammed with fresh ideas and astonishing heights of creativity".
[20] The Arts Desk journalist Nick Hasted wrote that, "Merseyside rock's taste for glowing lysergic locales defines" the album; "[w]hat gives blood and muscle to the conceit" is the band's "abiding pop craft".
[16] Jim Wirth of Uncut said that the album "splatters familiar components over a broad canvas," and while an "occasional change of pace might be welcome," the "craftsmanship is beyond reproach".
[64] Record Collector reviewer Shaun Curran said that there were moments where the band "overstretch – the tail-end of Part One drifts like fish and chip wrapper in the breeze – but a visit to Coral Island elicits the intangible pull of a place in time etched forever in the mind".