Chop Chop

Description

From the moment I heard demos, I knew this was a special batch of songs, nestled in the sweet spot between wistfulness and joy, explains Thomas Bartlett, who oversaw Bell X1s sixth album alongside the Nationals longtime producer (Peter Katis). The challenge was in making the songs rich and robust without losing the fragility and intimacy that made them so striking in the first place.

The solution was actually quite simple: Rather than rely on malevolent noise makers and malfunctioning computers like Bell X1 did on their last couple LPs, Chop Chop shaves their melancholic soundsculpted by frontman Paul Noonan, bassist Dominic Philips and multi-instrumentalist David Geraghtydown to nothing but reverb-trailed riffs, wildly expressive vocals and delicately layered rhythms. That way everything at least feels effortless, whether its the hypnotist hooks of Starlings Over Brighton Pier, the brain-burrowing torch balladry of Careful What You Wish For, or the heart-sinking apocalypse now narrative that is The End Is Nigh.