BELL X1
Flock Island/Universal ****
For Bell X1, all roads taken over the last few years lead to this point. Talking the talk and wearing the trousers is one thing, but turning all that immense potential into an album that can make a splash beyond these shores is something else entirely. While fashioning a breakthrough is very much down to other forces, the songs have to have the right shape before anything like this happens.
On Flock, the songs loll and lounge around without a care in the world, as if they're waiting for everyone else to catch up. Whatever about the melancholic pop of the likes of Rocky Took a Lover, a tune that harkens back to the bittersweet infectiousness of much of their Mouth in Music album, it's the new shapes and sizes that make you sit up and take notice. The robust, startling fierce snarl of Reach Around, a rough dig at cute hoor corner-boy politicians, and the snappy, fluid, whiteboy funk of Flame indicate that Bell X1 have perfected more than one set of tricks. Paul Noonan's lyrics have always been erudite and intriguing, but they're smarter and sharper here, with Just Like Mr Benn and He Said, She Said showing a winning way with sentiments and emotions.
Flock is a musical progression that deserves to be applauded. Whatever happens now, the band have done their part.
