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| Posted: 28 Feb 2009 03:28 PM PST
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| Bell X1 - Blue Lights on the Runway Posted: 28 Feb 2009 09:30 AM PST The Ireland-based Bell X1 evolved out of the Damien Rice-fronted Juniper. After Rice quit over an argument with the band about packaging their CDs with recyclable material, drummer Paul Noonan took over front man duties and the band changed their name. Though perhaps lacking the grandeur of Coldplay and Keane, Bell X1 fit nicely into the aforementioned's category of UK bands boasting intelligent writing and sturdy composition, but lacking the edge needed to enthrall North American listeners not yet detached enough to listen to adult-contemporary radio stations. The touches of decidedly pretty piano and singer Noonan's calculatedly gentle vocals all further indicate the band's target audience to be 30+ers that prefer their music subdued and unchallenging. On the first and more interesting half of Blue Lights On The Runway, this is less apparent. The songs are crafted around beats and contain some of the "oomph" the later half fatally lacks. Opener "The Ribs Of A Broken Umbrella" starts the album off well, with a variety of euphoric electronic sounds wrapped around its basic two-chord structure. On "The Great Defector", with only a subtle shift in intention, Noonan's vocals takes on a David Byrne-like character. He playfully sing-speaks lyrics like, "the accountants have taken the movie," while interesting harmonies, 8-bit keyboards and an animate bass line all flit around the soundscape. Without question, it's the album's best track. The rest of Blue Lights on the Runway, however, goes downhill from there. "A Better Band" shows more of the Talking Heads influence, but completely lacks the manic element that made Byrne and company so compelling. "Breastfed"'s chorus is a valiant attempt at harder rock but fails to convince. "Light Catches Your Face" is the shmaltzer you can expect to hear on “Grey's Anatomy”. On Blue Lights on the Runway's better tracks, Bell X1 show that they have the ability to write music meant for more than network drama placement. Perhaps they just choose not to because there's simply more money to be made off the “Grey's Anatomy” audience than hipsters who'll download the album (without paying for it), blog about how it's the greatest thing since OK Computer, and then forget about it the next week. If a smart band isn't necessarily a good one, in this case, Bell X1 is a very smart band. Blue Lights on the Runway comes out March 3 on BellyUp Records. Tracklisting: Related Posts |
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