Okkervil River collaborator Will Graefe has a solo album ‘Marine Life‘ due in April on 11A Records and ‘Coral Court Motel‘ is a taster for it. It’s a song that whoozes through on waves of despairing helplessness, with images of a motel where people don’t check in for long stays. As Graefe says “Coral Court Motel is some version of a break up song. It’s a song about resignation, infidelity, insanity. It’s psychological. The Coral Court Motel has been defunct since 1993 so I’ve never actually been THERE.”
He adds that “The seed of this song came from study of Duke Ellington piano voicings – lush yet jagged, filled with mystery. The tune spilled out within the evening and I recorded the basic track in my bedroom the next day. The song features Katie Von Schleicher singing harmonies. I love how she shadows and weaves in and out of the phrases like an apparition. which is sort of how I felt for the last year. “
Photo: Annette Wong
