Sessions were held at Linford Manor Studios, Milton Keynes in early 2002, and were produced by the Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie and the Coral.

Described as a neo-psychedelia and folk rock album, frontman James Skelly's voice was compared to Eric Burdon of the Animals and Jim Morrison of the Doors.

[8] Wills saw the Coral supporting the Real People at the Lomax venue in Liverpool; he liked the performance but thought they were lacking in quality material.

[9] He put them in contact with his friend Joe Fearon, who had had an extensive record collection, showing them the works of Can, Captain Beefheart and Kraftwerk, among others.

[14] Wills went to London to promote the band, igniting a bidding war between labels that resulted in Deltasonic becoming an imprint of Sony Music Entertainment.

[16][17] The Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie saw the band during a show in Manchester, and wanted to work with them on their upcoming debut album.

[18] In January and February 2002, the band appeared on the NME Carling Tour in the UK, alongside Andrew W.K., Lostprophets and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

[20] The Coral was produced by Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds, and co-produced by the band (under the name Zion Egg); John Gray acted as engineer, with assistance from Kenny Paterson.

[22][23] Musically, the sound of The Coral has been described as neo-psychedelia,[24] and folk rock,[25] with James Skelly's voice receiving comparisons to Eric Burdon of the Animals and Jim Morrison of the Doors.

[29] The rise and drop in sound was inspired by the band's "teenage knowledge of bad dance music", citing techno and happy hardcore.

[28][34] Ian Skelly said the song was created out of an interest in American doo-wop and Merseybeat; it was almost left off the album as the band did not want to become one-hit wonders.

[37] The early Pink Floyd-indebted "Goodbye" incorporates a punk rock guitar solo echoing the Ex, and features James Skelly counting down.

[42] Power wanted "Wildfire" to be a track that stood out from the band's peers, referring to it as "Button Moon crossed with The Teardrop Explodes.

[44][45] "Bad Man" was influenced by "old blues murder ballads" and "weird Americana", such as "Stagger Lee" (1923) by Waring's Pennsylvanians and Mutations (1998) by Beck.

[39][26][47] The title of "Calendars and Clocks" was take from a poem that Power had written; the music evolved out of a rendition of a Frank Sinatra song.

[59][60] The European version included a radio edit and music video of "Goodbye", alongside "Travelling Circus" and an alternative mix of "Dressed Like a Cow".

[72] In 2022, the band are set to perform the album in its entirety through a UK tour, alongside a reissue that includes B-sides and two new songs ("She's the Girl for Me" and "Tumble Graves").

[74] The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis found the album to be a "mass of remarkable contradictions", with the band "explor[ing] 1960s rock's extremities, areas too strange for Britpop's crowd-pleasing conformity".

[27] Entertainment Weekly writer Brian M. Raftery found the band to "defy easy categorization", while remaining constantly "engaging, making for a record that’s as hard to ignore as it is to pin down".

[82] AllMusic reviewer Bryan Thomas wrote that the "fantastic voyage that is The Coral [...] is the real discovery", citing an amalgamation of various influences, often within a single song.

[76] In a review for Rolling Stone, Robert Christgau wrote that band's "selling point is an eclecticism that evades Oasis-style overkill with compact songs that hop all over the place [... w]hether it can be imported to the U.S. is another question".