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    Bell X1

    Blue Lights on the Runway

    Bell X1 - Blue Lights on the Runway

    01/01/2009 | Yep Roc Records 

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    All Music Guide Review

    Established fans of this scrappy Irish quartet may be startled by the band's slight turn toward electronica on its fourth studio album, but there's no need to fear: the focus is still on bittersweet melody and whimsical lyrics. Lines like "Bring your canary, bring your flame" and "I'd say life's a different story when you're facing certain death" and entire songs like the snotty, raunchy "One Stringed Harp" offer an interesting counterbalance to what are often delicately beautiful arrangements and tunes; on "The Great Defector" a slightly off-kilter verse slides into a startlingly simple and lovely hook in the chorus, all the while flirting with a ska beat. (It also features the couplet "You're the chocolate at the end of my cornetto/I love the way your underwire bra sets off that X-ray machine.") "Blow Ins" is subtly lounge-flavored until the gentle vocals come in and change the whole mood; "Breastfed," oddly enough, is written in 7/4. If you're looking for more cowbell, then try the relatively rockish "A Better Band," and if you're looking for less melody, try the weirdly tuneless "How Your Heart Is Wired." Blue Lights on the Runway is one of those rare albums that you can pretend to like for its alt-credibility while secretly just enjoying it for the hooks. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide

    Blue Lights on the Runway Track Listing

  • Track#
  • Title
  • time
  • lyrics
  • 1
  • The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella
  • 5:27

  • 2
  • How Your Heart Is Wired
  • 6:13

  • 3
  • The Great Defector
  • 4:40

  • 4
  • Blow Ins
  • 4:35

  • 5
  • Amelia
  • 6:58

  • 6
  • A Better Band
  • 6:35

  • 7
  • Breastfed
  • 4:11

  • 8
  • Light Catches Your Face
  • 5:43

  • 9
  • One Stringed Harp
  • 5:12

  • 10
  • The Curtains Are Twitchin'
  • 5:08

    • Blue Lights on the Runway Notes

    Bell X1's central trio of Paul Noonan, Dave Geraghty, and Dominic Phillips penned every song on the record. Leader Noonan said, "We started recording last November in a big, draughty, stately home called Ballycumber House, under the beady gaze of musty portraits of the Lords and Ladies of the estate from the 15th century. We wanted to make something different, something tight and coherent from start to finish. Where we've landed is a little bit electronic, a little bit Bacharach, a little bit New Orleans Funeral March."

    Bell X1 recall Eno-era Talking Heads, Sigur Ros, and XTC on jagged, vintage synth-laden "Broken Umbrella," the syncopated "How Your Heart Is Wired," fuzzed out hard rocker "Breast Fed," the electrifying "The Great Defector," and gorgeous ballad "Light Catches Your Face."

    Bell X1's US debut Flock earned the band incredible reviews earlier this year. Tastemaker website Very Short List called Flock an "early front-runner for best record of 2008." In a four-star write up for Paste Magazine, Christine Van Dusen called the group "one of Ireland's great bands," continuing, "Flock will prove that Bell X1 is an incredibly valuable export."

    New York Daily News' Jim Farber wrote, "It's not just [Paul] Noonan's sharp eye in these songs that proves winning. It's also his flair for dialogue and his keen way with a metaphor. His cruel writing will make you swoon."

    Credits of Blue Lights on the Runway



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