A Worse-er Band: Bell X1, 'Blue Lights on the Runway'

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CALL IT AN identity crisis.

Fans of the Irish rock band Bell X1 likely experienced the typical combined excited/nervous response when the group hit the relative big time in the United States in 2008 with "Flock" (released three years earlier in Ireland). When an indie band starts playing for the general public instead of college radio, what does it mean for its sound?

Well, in Bell X1's case, it means disappointment. The band — named for the first aircraft to break the sound barrier — tries too hard to make its second U.S. release, "Blue Lights on the Runway" (Yep Roc), slick and accessible, but the result is tedious. The mix of influences, from jazz to Irish folk, verges on interesting but in the end is outweighed by the heavy synth-pop, which becomes repetitive and overbearing.

Bell X1 is generally known for its wryness, its cleverness and its pop-culture literacy — a lyrical highlight from "Flock" is in "Rocky Took a Lover": "I don't believe in any old Jesus / If there was a God, then why is my arse / The perfect height of kicking?" But "Blue Lights" is duller, more muffled, and the lyrics generally don't convey that same invention — even the album's title indicates a sense of adventure that just doesn't appear in the all-too-familiar music.

"The Great Defector" is by far the best track on the album, featuring unexpected references to American literature: "I am the defector / And you're the farmer's daughter / You been teasing us farm boys / Till we start talkin' about those rabbits, George / Oh won't you tell us 'bout those rabbits, George" (That's a shout-out to Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," as you should know from 10th-grade English class.) Lead singer Paul Noonan has said the song's style is reminiscent of the Talking Heads, and that comparison is pretty obvious. Varying tempos and a funky melody especially keep the track afloat and probably even put it among the best of Bell X1's canon.

On the other end of the spectrum is the slow and heartfelt "Blow Ins," the prettiest song on the album, but it still doesn't approach the caliber of pre-"Flock" ballads. It's at least head and shoulders above the baleful "Light Catches Your Face" and "The Curtains Are Twitchin," which fall flat in their attempts at invoking any emotion. Bell X1 should listen to more closely to another dull track, "A Better Band," and think a little harder about what that phrase actually means.

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