A very special live album featuring a collaboration between Patti Smith and Kevin Shields is set to be released when “The Coral Sea” hits the shelves on July 11th.
The album is drawn from performances made by the two artists in 2005 and 2006. “The Coral Sea” is a piece written by Smith in tribute to her friend and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and is also the title to her 1997 book.
The concerts had a very different stylistic approach, with a heavy emphasis on improvisation. Patti Smith would read her prose pieces to a backdrop of guitar noise provided by Sheilds – the legendary creative mind behind My Bloody Valentine. The effect was haunting and extremely moving with the initial concerts gathering a clutch of favourable reviews.
A requiem to a departed friend, “The Coral Sea” describes Mapplethorpe’s terminal illness. An intense piece, it tells the story of M (Mapplethorpe) and his attempt to see the Southern Cross before he dies.
“The Coral Sea” by Patti Smith and Kevin Shields is due to be released on July 11th.
