Paul Noonan is stepping outside of Bell X1 with an acclaimed new side-project, Printer Clips, where he duets with a cast of female vocalists.

“I’ve always loved singing with girls,” he says, ahead of a live debut for Printer Clips at Dublin’s National Concert Hall this Saturday. “There’s something about a duet that's more than a harmony, more than the sum of its parts. What epitomised that for me was seeing Gillian Welch for the first time. I realised the strength of two voices and a guitar, the unspoken intuition between two people.”

He has assembled an illustrious line-up of leading ladies, including Danielle Harrison, Lisa Hannigan, Joan As Policewoman, Martha Wainwright, Amy Milan from Stars, Gemma Hayes, Cathy Davey, Julia Stone and Maria Doyle-Kennedy. Noonan explains the genesis of his new album is partly a reaction to what he was doing with his day-job.

“I started it in summer 2009. The band were doing very layered music and exploring many avenues at the same time. In some ways this became a reaction to that. My head was hurting a little bit. The idea of simply recording two voices and two guitars at the same time was refreshing. I’d leave it at that and let the songs stand up.

“So I went around grabbing people to record in hotel rooms or at their kitchen table. The simplicity and purity appealed. Printer Clips became this delicate thing that I turned to in my potting shed, every now and again. I'm lucky that I played drums for Gemma Hayes and Cathy Davey for a while. I recorded it in my house, or various people’s houses. I flew to New York and met Joan Wasser in a friend’s apartment. It also turned out that friends of mine from here were subletting Martha Wainwright’s apartment, completely coincidentally.”

Printer Clips, the album, is full of very happy coincidences and encounters in various hallways, basements and bedrooms in Montreal, New York, Dublin and London. It also manages to coalesce perfectly as a compelling album.

“We ended up recording in Rufus Wainwright’s apartment,” Noonan continues. “People I didn’t know who were just a few degrees of separation away were incredibly open to the idea. I’d show up at their door with a laptop and a microphone foisting lyrics into their faces.”

The project’s name has intriguing origins.

“A friend of mine sent a photograph of his grandfather, a printer in the '50s,” Paul reveals. “It’s a beautiful black and white photograph of him in a three-piece suit. He had his sleeves rolled up, in case they got caught in the machine and, specifically, in these metal bands called printer clips.”

Noonan will premiere Paper Clips with a performance in the NCH that will feature all the European-based ladies involved, including Gemma Hayes and Lisa Hannigan. However, don’t fret, Bell X1 fans: there's plenty in the band's diary, including festival appearances at Forbidden Fruit, and a US tour.

Meanwhile, Paul is putting in the hours in a new writing space for musicians in the National Concert Hall. He also fondly recalls Bell X1’s headline appearance there last year as one of the highlights of the band’s career.

“James Vincent McMorrow, Neil Hannon, Cathy Davey and I approached the Concert Hall for a writing space,” he reveals. “Now, we’ve got a great place in the wing of the second floor. I try and get in there every day and be disciplined. Not necessarily nine to five, but at least showing up. Sometimes I might just stare out the window a while. I used to be more of a 'waiting for the gods to strike and be their willing conduit' guy. It's a load of bollocks. If you don’t show up, it won’t happen.”
 
Printer Clips play the National Concert Hall on May 24. Check out a gallery of Mr Noonan looking sharp as ever here.