Bell X1 – Blue Lights on the Runway

Bell X1 - Blue Lights on the Runway

Been listening to the new Bell X1 album for the last few days and although initially I was slightly disappointed that it hadn’t lived up to ‘Flock’, it has grown on me in a big way.

The trademark Bell X1 wit is in plain view on ‘The Great Defector’. Lines like “you’re the chocolate at the end of my Cornetto” and “I love the way your underwire bra, always sets of that X-Ray machine”. These great lyrics are then compounded by a stonking chorus.

There’s beauty, as usual, in ‘Blows In’ and ‘Amelia’, though the latter makes me wonder if they just pick random girls names for songs (Natalie, Eve etc.) or if they’re actually songs about real people.

The album is a bit scrappy throughout. It sounds as though it was recorded and mixed in a rush. I could do with a nice sheen and a tidy up.

The best track of the album comes at the end, the curtain closer so to speak, in ‘The Curtains are Twtchin’. A simple piano chord progression peppered with more astute, witty lyrics. It culminates in a Radiohead-esque brass section with trumpets spurting out confused croaks.

It’s a decent album, well worth a buy, but I can’t help but think they could’ve done better. Maybe they’ve reached their pinnacle on ‘Flock’ or maybe they’ll prove me wrong…

Blue Lights on the Runway is out in Ireland on the 20th of February.

~ by clemsound on February 10, 2009.