Bell X1's 'Flock' Built On Paul Noonan's Incredible Songs

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Yep Roc Records) - Bell X1's singer and primary songwriter Paul Noonan actually started life in the band behind the drum kit. When their original vocalist, Damien Rice, vacated for a solo career, Noonan was called to the fore and an incredible talent was discovered. "To be honest, I always thought that songwriting, like gymnastics, was what other people did - not me," he says. "But it actually came pretty naturally, and I do love it. As a language, songwriting is somehow far more communicative than I could be otherwise. It touches the places I alone couldn't."

The anthemic songs on 'Flock' (Feb. 19/Yep Roc), which marks their U.S. recording debut, have some unlikely sources.

A homeless man inspired the melodic first single "Rocky Took a Lover." Noonan recalls, "He'd been living on the street for years and, known for his wild abusiveness when drunk, we found him good company when he was sober. One morning we found him asleep on his palette with a lady. He'd scored. The song imagines the conversation they might have had when they woke." Check it out live (with the audience in full-voiced sing-along mode):
https://youtube.com/watch?v=E5DINTH0Q6A

"Flame," singer Paul Noonan comments, "is about being drawn to someone, awestruck but feeling inadequate and fading to beige in their light." Check out the video:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U4XNef3rn0E

The acoustic, intimate "Bad Skin Day" is "a song about not wanting to face anyone and wallowing in where did it all go wrong," says Noonan.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ovDG3OsstvI