Bell X1 announced today that they will release their 8th studio album, Merciful Hour, on May 26th, with the single and video for “Haint Blue” being revealed today. The ten-track album was recorded last year in Dublin with producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy. A project the band have been working on since 2018, this will be their first studio album since Arms in 2016.
Paul Noonan explains further “Haint Blue was the first song that we worked on for this record, and brought us back into the orbit of the good ship Bell X1. Dave had been listening to a podcast about how porches in parts of the southern U.S. were painted this particular shade of blue to ward off ghosts, or Haints as they were called by the Gullah people in that part of the world. It led us to dream up a character of a more benign Haint, and an exploration of the surreal, a fever dream of yearning.
The song sets out a stall of sorts for the record – taking a central image or idea and stretching it beyond the corporeal, untethered.
Like a couple of the others, we got to play Haint Blue live before recording and work with Dowry Strings in realising this idea of the spooky place, with the melodrama of the strings, the voices of a crowd.
Ellius Grace came up with a video treatment that jumps on one of the possible narratives in the song – some kind of rupture in the relationship between a father and daughter, and his hallucinations, regret and yearning for what they had. All set in a spooky gaff…We’ve been fans of his work for some time now so it was great to have this story realised through his lens”.
Tracklist
- Skipping Without a Rope
- Haint Blue
- The Lobster
- Bridge & Tunnel
- Something Electric
- Spacewalk
- Still Singing
- As The Demons Have Their Say
- Whisper In the Night
- Light My Way
The pre-order of the album will include 4 tracks for instant grat – Haint Blue, The Lobster, Bridge & Tunnel and Light My Way. Pre-order will be available this Friday via iTunes.
After a run of sold-out shows with Dowry Strings last year, Bell X1 will return to full and electric band duties in the summer.
Live this Summer
Sat 10 June – Cork / Live at the Marquee
Sat 17 June – Limerick / King John’s Castle
Sat 8 July – Derry / Stendhal Festival
Fri 21 July – Dublin / Iveagh Gardens
Sat 22 July – Laois / Forest Festival
Fri 28 July – Galway / Galway International Arts Festival
Sat 12 August – Listowel / Revival Festival
