Bell X1 - 'Music In Mouth' (Universal-Island)
3/5
By: Toby L
Rarely do you find yourself with a Bell X1 in your hands these days - that is to say, an act releasing a debut-album as sumptuous, accomplished, flourishing and immediate as 'Music In Mouth', yet to a relatively muted response... For now.
Seemingly, there's a plan in operation here: a major-label; a release-accompanying, co-headline, first ever tour of the UK; and an enviable emphasis on product over press-reliance. The intended/deserved outcome? Presumably, to sweep the greater public at large. The likelihood for such an achievement? Most probable.
This is all very much angelic-cum-prog - yet in as delightful and inviting a fashion as possible; Radiohead with training-wheels, if you will. Merrily, along the way, there's just enough dashing of humour and style to exude the finished article to an articulate, intelligent, though somehow non-pretentious, stab at classic, guitar indie. With bells on.
They're good at titles, too, such emblazoned strap-lines as 'Eve, The Apple Of My Eye' as charming as their own inclusive, brass-tinged product, with 'Alphabet Soup' possibly their early-on, definitive anthem - jangling guitars, and an earnest, albeit comedic delivery ('You say you like children, but you couldn't eat a whole one'...) from Brian Crosby that's every bit as urgent as the track's unexpected close, which fearlessly introduces a visceral growl and panache to the mix, and one that couldn't be any more warranted.
In fact, it's when the pace broadens - as expertly demonstrated on frantic, debut single, 'White Water Song' - that the 'X1 really prove unstoppable, the perfect bridge which adjoins their melancholic warbling (a graceful 'Daybreak', or haunting, blissful 'I'll See Your Heart & I'll Raise You Mine') to its less inhibited, thunderous partner.
And, altogether, 'Music In Mouth' consistently forms the basis of a cohesive, collected package desirable enough to provoke mass-appeal. So, Bell X1 have done their job, and quite wondrously so at that. But, now, it's up to the discernment of the masses to take note and behold.
Artists in this article: Bell X1
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