Album Review: Bell X1, Good Bones

The first new Bell X1 material since the untimely and tragic passing of their bandmate, Glenn ‘G Bone’ Keating, earlier this year, Good Bones was recorded in upstate New York in just 10 days. It’s a record that faces up to grief without drowning in it, imbued with a sense of loss, but also a feeling of genuine connection and love, which seeps from the very cracks of these songs.

Behind the production desk is the supremely talented Josh Kaufman, part of Bonny Light Horseman, who helps the band to coax forth the warmest and most welcoming Bell X1 album in years. Gone are the glitches and electronics of recent outings, replaced with organic instrumentation and the sound of three musicians playing together in a room, which just happens to be a deconsecrated church, complete with stained glass windows.

Thus, we have the healing glow of ‘But First Love’, the sublime harmonies of ‘Born’, the slow country swing of ‘Alone With Your Thoughts’, the shimmery campfire singalong of ‘Smile Like You Mean It’ and the soulful groove of ‘Still The Ocean’.

‘A Peace Offering’ sees Paul Noonan’s falsetto underlaid with a monumental bass rumble from Dominic Phillips, while David Geraghty adds some chiming guitars. The glorious ‘Coughing Up Butterflies’ is built on a quietly funky bass-walk and supremely catchy piano flourishes, with Noonan waxing poetical about the difficult business of maintaining relationships for the long haul. On a similar theme, current single ‘Atlas’ is a toe-tappingly addictive love song, complete with the kind of whipsmart and messily human lyricism Noonan has made a career from

Geraghty takes over lead vocals for the soaring ‘Leaps & Bounds’ and the jazz-inflected ‘Stay Lost’, while the magnificent ‘Talking In Your Sleep’ features extraordinary vocal interplay between the two of them, which is amongst the most glorious noises they’ve ever made.

A beautiful record that rewards repeated listening.

Out November 13

9/10