Review Summary: A brief introduction to irishcana.
BellX1 released their latest album of Irishcana last month. This of course brings a couple of questions to the forefront. First: who in the hell are BellX1? And what the *** is Irishcana? Well, Irishcana is a previously fictional term used to indicate a sentimental mix of Bruce Springsteen’s “The River”, indie sensibility, glued on Talking Heads electronics and vocals that bleed Damien Rice, but would much rather sing Keane. Bell X1, on the other hand, is a rock band with a large following in Ireland who are pioneers in Irishcana. Professional critics have compared the band to a mix between Radiohead and Coldplay. But I disagree; Radiohead is too masochistic in nature to ever make Bell X1’s sappy emotional anthems, and all Christ Martin ever cared about is old girlfriends and the French Revolution. No, BellX1 are in their own little genre, isolated from the world and held within the intoxicated hearts of the Irish. If only their genre didn’t sound just like everybody else’s.
I’m not implying that BellX1’s product is bad in anyway. Their saccharine nostalgic anthems have the tendency to hit all the right emotional sweet spots. "Velcro" is a particularly soulful pop song, which has verses that bleed the 70’s and a refrain that’s just as catchy as it is hopelessly romantic. Furthermore, "Nightwatchmen" follows the same pattern to effective measures, escalating into a sugary peak. The streamlined direction of these songs makes them as relatable as they are impressionable, and inevitably, they are due to crawl onto Irelands airwaves in abundance
Unfortunately there just isn’t anything at all that makes BellX1 unique or remotely exciting. BellX1 dabble in electronics for the majority of the album, but despite the pulsing beats, the vibrant synths, and abrasive sections of auto-tune, the electronics just come off as an unnecessary accessory. Every single track on the album would work just as well with traditional instrumentation, making all of BellX1’s experimentation rather pointless, a forced inclusion of modern pop conventions to their “old as time” format. Which means,that despite everything, you’ve heard this album before. In fact, you’ve heard it hundreds of times before. You’ve heard it with more creativity, more initiative, and more originality. As it turns out, BellX1 is just a standard imitation of everyone else.
The real cluster*** of Bloodless Coup though, isn’t that Bell X1 is ripping off everybody’s music, after all, that’s what the music industry is all about, rather it’s that every one of these songs sound pointlessly the same. The album begins with “Hey Ana Leena”, which beckons you into Bloodless Coup with hauntingly lonely keyboards before transforming into a pseudo-Americana pop song. The record quickly moves past "Velcro" and "Nightwatchmen", two already discussed pseudo-Americana pop songs, to move onto "Sugar High", a high energy, bubble gum blowing, cheery, pseudo-Americana pop song. Also featured is "Built To Last", which starts out with LCD styled dance beats only to remarkably metamorphosize into a pseudo-Americana pop song, and "Safer Than Love", a cheesy love song which also happens to be a pseudo-Americana pop song. Closing the album is the sweet and tender "74 Swans", a touching emotional dirge of a pseudo-Americana pop song. regrettably, Bloodless coup painfully retreads even itself.
So, I guess I’m going to have to withdraw my submission of Irishcana to the Genre-list, aren’t I? Because it really doesn’t mean ***, does it? It’s just a slightly different way of repackaging the same old blustery anthems that everybody has already attempted, a poignant example of the fact that no matter how much icing you put on a cake it’s still a God damn cake. Bloodless Coup will undoubtedly give Bell X1 a slew of Irish hits, sell out several concerts, and might even bring in a wider international audience for the band. It wouldn’t be surprising; the music is enjoyable for the most part. Unfortunately, despite being great hangover music in the morning, there isn't anything memorable about it in the slightest.
