Paul Noonan
Paul Noonan is a songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the frontman of the Irish group Bell X1. Paul is also a hugely successful solo artist and collaborator on a variety of musical projects, namely Printer Clips and more recently House Plants.
Bell X1 has always allowed Noonan and other members to explore extracurricular musical projects, its philosophy being that individuals would return with ideas and perspectives acquired elsewhere. Over the years, Noonan has appeared on a number of side projects and as a guest musician (usually percussion and vocals) for fellow artists. In 2006, he appeared on the popular charity album The Cake Sale as a performer and writer.
When Printer Clips washed elegantly up on shore in 2011, it made perfect sense – a Noonan-helmed vessel carrying Joan As Policewoman, Martha Wainwright, Lisa Hannigan and other sirens. No one for a second mistook it for the end of Bell X1. It was just Noonan going where he needed to go. In 2014 Noonan joined many of the female singers who featured on Printer Clips debut album at Ireland's National Concert Hall for a special live performance of the project.
HousePlants is the latest exciting full-fledged creative vision of Paul Noonan and innovative atmospheric producer Daithí. It is the kind of union that accentuates both artists’ strengths in that intimate practice room way, finding beauty in flaws, inviting them in. Noonan’s ornate delivery, the bedrock for so many of Bell X1’s career highlights, takes on a fresh cadence against the bright backdrop of Daithi’s searching, dynamic approach to creating and capturing sounds.
Between these collaborations, Paul Noonan has been performing intimate solo shows around Ireland, using novel equipment that creates a unique and compelling sound.