Product Description After critical raves, three national tours and multiple late-night TV bookings surrounding their breakout album Flock, Irish band Bell X1 is back with the ambitious and cutting Blue Lights on the Runway. Their second album on Yep Roc Records, BLOTR belies a synth-based metamorphosis for the group Paste Magazine called, "one of Ireland's greatest bands." The central creative trio of Paul Noonan, Dave Geraghty and Dominic Phillips retained the melody-focused approach of their first album but expanded their sound through the addition of glitchy electronic nuances ('The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella') crunching, prominent guitars ('Breastfed') and glittery art pop ('The Great Defector'). Noonan's gorgeous ballad 'Light Catches Your Face' anchors the work, exemplifying the emotional gamut fans have come to expect from the versatile rockers. Touring, licensing and the excitement of their now legendarily rabid fans are sure to combine for an even greater swell of success for Bell X1 in 2009. Quite literally, Blue Lights on the Runway will mark the take-off of a long, rich career. Review There's much more than a ghost in the high-performance machine that is this acclaimed Irish band's new album. Synths and samplers permeate the arrangements, but vibrant melodies and vigorous grooves are key to tracks such as The Great Defector and A Better Band (both evoking vintage Talking Heads) and more softly glowing fare. Blending soul and atmosphere, they frequently reach higher ground. Elysa Gardner --USA TodayIronically for a band named after the first aircraft to shatter the sound barrier, the lads in Bell X1 have been a little slow transporting the success they ve enjoyed in their native Ireland across the teeming Atlantic to the United States. But while 2008 s Flock landed them a spot on Letterman and song placements on a number of TV shows (most notably a high-profile episode of The OC), their new record Blue Lights On The Runway has the potential to turn X1 into a stateside #1. The digitized percussion opening lead single 'How Your Heart Is Wired' quickly spills into a lush guitar riff that suggests a more adrenalized version of Radiohead s 'Talk Show Host.' Lead singer Paul Noonan is a savagely brilliant, left-field lyricist. You ll find a lump in your throat even when you don t know exactly what he s getting at. Longtime fans suffered a crushing blow when keyboardist/utility man Brian Crosby left the band in fall of 2008, but Bell X1 appears determined to not lose an ounce of momentum. --Paste MagazineLike their former band-mate Damien Rice, this Irish trio know from beauty. Their fourth album is full of sweet, cushy melodies surrounded by well-arranged electronic textures: 'How Your Heart is Wired' where Paul Noonan whisper-croons over programmed drums and plush sound effects, will be ear candy to Coldplay fans; elsewhere, he spikes his lyrics with cheeky asides and references to Of Mice and Men. Blue Lights is uneven, but the good songs are really good: Over the straight-forward stomp of 'The Great Defector' Noonan sounds like a young David Byrne on the uplifting, carnivalesque chorus. --Rolling Stone