lived; the dark side of small town life. Street parties, silver tea-sets, secret suicides". By October 2002, they were recording material for it; Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds as the main producer, with co-production from the band, and Jon Gray acting as engineer. Seven backing tracks were made over the course of five days at Elevator Studios in Liverpool. After this, the Coral went on a tour of the UK, before returning to the studio later in the month. In early 2003, the band supported Supergrass on their tour of the United States, which featured appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Last Call with Carson Daly, and then went to Europe. Following the conclusion of tour, the band held further recording sessions, having recorded up to 35 songs by this point. The Coral were due to embark on a tour of the UK in February 2003; however, guitarist Lee Southall suffered from tendonitis. As a result of this, Broudie played rhythm guitar on "Pass It On". Deltasonic co-founder Alan Wills remarked that the band did not record any single-sounding songs, prompting them to record two songs from earlier in their career, "Bill McCai" and "Pass It On". The album was finished by April 2003; it was mastered by Gary Butler at RST Onestop in Prescot, Merseyside. Composition and lyrics Musically, the sound of Magic and Medicine has been described as pop rock, and psychedelic pop, compared to the work of the Animals, with frontman James Skelly's vocals recalling the Animals frontman Eric Burdon. Keyboardist Nick Power said they wanted the album to be more "organic [... with] a strong acoustic vibe", in contrast to the "really spontaneous" self-titled album. Skelly wrote over half of the album, with the reminder co-written with Power or guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones; "Eskimo Lament" was written solely by Power. Additional musicians appeared on the recordings: Louis Baccino with a flute on "Don't Think You're the First"; Megan Childs of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci with a violin on "Milkwood Blues"; Martin Smith, Simon James and Andy Frizell with brass on "Eskimo Lament" and "Confessions of A.D.D.D."; Ollie Brindley with double bass on "All of Our Love"; and Andy Brindley with a harmonica on "All of Our Love". The opening track, "In the Forest", begins with Power's organ, setting a darker mood for the rest of the album. Skelly said the chorus lyrics were adapted from