Printer Clips

For the past decade or so, Paul Noonan’s side project, Printer Clips, has gathered original songs, some of them written for specific people and bands (including Bell X1) and for specific records (2006’s various artists Oxfam charity album The Cake Sale). Mostly, however, it’s a standalone collection of duets with a range of accomplished female singers and songwriters. Irish input comes from Lisa Hannigan, Cathy Davey, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Gemma Hayes and Danielle Harrison; from across the Atlantic, Martha Wainwright, Joan as Policewoman, Julia Stone and Amy Millan have provided vocals. Some of the songs, says Noonan – notably Vapour Trails , which previously appeared on The Cake Sale – have “incredible personal resonance”. Others, he says, work in a more objective narrative fashion. “I wanted light and shade, and I didn’t want to just crowbar the duet format into songs that weren’t written as such. A duet is more than a harmony – the whole has to be greater than the sum of its component parts, either as an entwining of the voices or the trading of narrative verses.” That Printer Clips works is a credit to all involved. Each song is imbued with strong folk-pop melodies, but the tone isn’t as sweet as you might think. Fans of Bell X1 will love it, while Noonan’s less entrenched detractors might just be won over.