Album Review: The Coronas, Time Stopped

The Coronas are one of the few homegrown indie bands to have confounded the accepted wisdom that emigration was – or is – essential in order to be fully accepted at home. In fact, The Coronas went even further, filling out top notch venues when they were hardly out of high infants. Now the triumvirate, plus buddies, of O’Reilly, Knox and Egan deliver their seventh studio album, replete with the kind of trademark sound that can work as neatly in an intimate venue as in the biggest arena.

They open with the non-singing, non-dancing ‘Intro (Dysil)’, a short, hypnotic concoction of piano, ambient noise and loops that sets the mood. Dysil, for the uninitiated, is a ‘beta lactamase inhibitor’, which extends the life of certain anti-biotics. Or – co-written by Cian MacSweeney of True Tides – it could be a reference to a character in the console game Forsaken World.

The lockdown-inspired ‘Write Our Own Soundtrack’ has a restrained approach with an upbeat lyric about a planet in ruins – yet love can hold it together. The radio-friendly ‘If You Let Me’ reframes the importance of love, when a friend’s pain forces you into positive action. The band see it as a response to Jackson 5’s 1970 hit ‘I’ll Be There’, so it’s not for heart-of-stoners.

There’s an added, tough, Snow Patrol-esque core to ‘Karma’, which producer and co-writer John Broe has helped sculpt into a major, sonically challenging tour de force. The waltzy ‘Blessed To Call You My Own’ eases off on the accellarator pedal and takes an introspective turn. The title track, which wraps up the album, has Danny O’Reilly’s voice to the fore – and a pleading loveliness, on an impressive song about repositioning priorities in a time of uncertainty.

The Coronas approach each album as a complete creation, and Time Stopped is no exception. There’s a caring sense of decency in Danny O’Reilly’s voice; a sense of conviction in the songs; and it all hangs beautifully and positively together. A winner.

8.5/10

Read our in-depth interview with The Coronas' Danny O'Reilly in the new issue of Hot Press – out now: