SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artists
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Bell X1
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Bell X1
Having topped off a fantastic 2004 with a sold out gig in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre in December Bell X1 headed straight into a Dublin studio to start work on the follow up to their platinum selling Music In Mouth (Island). They are planning to release a brand new single in April and will celebrate by announcing a full tour of Ireland (details and dates to be announced shortly). This will be followed by the release of their, as yet untitled, 3rd album. Meanwhile the band will be performing at this year’s Meteor Awards in The Point on Thursday 24th February and have been nominated in the Best Irish Band Category (along with Snow Patrol, The Frames and The Thrills). The band toured solidly since the release of their second album, Music In Mouth, on Island Records in July 2003. They played right around Europe and the U.S. on their own headline dates (as well as playing special guest to everyone from Snow Patrol and Keane to Damien Rice) combining these with festival appearances. With their current album supported by 4 top 40 singles to date (“White Water Song”, “Tongue”, “Snakes & Snakes” and “Eve”) the band have won a whole new audience as well as accumulating media accolades throughout the year. Bell X1 Biography: The band are Paul Noonan, Brian Crosby, David Geraghty and Dominic Phillips, who have made music together in many guises since the early 90s. The album was recorded over the course of 2002 in a series of locations from Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey and The Fallout Shelter in London, to various houses in Dublin, Kilkenny and London. Even a cursory listen to ‘Music In Mouth’ reveals a wealth of warmth and humour. From drunken first kisses to dead poet’s muses, the songs are served up with real feeling. These are love songs that rearrange the emotional furniture, revealing a bittersweet heart, where Biblical references and childhood board games rub shoulders with sensual lyrics, and vivid imagery develops like a treasured photograph. While they're not overly keen to blow their own collective trumpet it is certainly true that repeated playing of ‘Music In Mouth’ reveals its depths. Whether that’s in the ingenious central idea of opening track ‘Snakes and Snakes’ (there are no ladders), or the equally satisfying picture that ‘I’ll see Your Heart and Raise You Mine’ conjures; whether it’s the way the banjo sounds like an eastern instrument in ‘Alphabet Soup’, the simple elegiac qualities and atmosphere of ‘Bound for Boston Hill’, or the neo-folk jug band eroticism and exuberance in ‘West of her Spine’, these are songs that stick around and make their presence welcome. Add Noonan’s addictive vocals to a mix that makes careful use of vibraphone, bells and understated strings and you’ve got a totally accomplished record. An achievement to be proud of, whichever way you cut it. "When night stirred at sea/And the fire brought a crowd in/They say that her beauty/Was music in mouth". ask@trickmanagement.com |
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