Ghost Tones: A Brief Review Of The Debut Solo Album From Andy Bell (Ride, Oasis, Beady Eye, Hurricane #1)

It's almost hard to believe that Andy Bell has never released a genuine solo album. After Ride, he formed Hurricane #1, joined Gay Dad, then Oasis, and then Beady Eye. And yet, he never dropped anything under his own name. That all changes now with the release of The View from Halfway Down. Out via Sonic Cathedral on Friday, the release is one that may surprise a listener, and one which reveals an expansiveness of approach that is refreshing.

"Love Comes in Waves" is a jangling rocker of the sort that feels a bit like Ride, and a tiny bit like some of the better Beady Eye numbers. It is, however, one of the more conventional tracks here on Andy Bell's solo LP. "Indica" hovers into focus and back again, a flurry of beats, string-plucks, live drums, and backwards vocals, while "Skywalker" takes that format and adds a spry hook, and a bass-line right out of "She Said, She Said" to fantastic effect. Andy Bell's also been careful with the bits of the distant past he references, and this one felt like a fresh way to nod backwards in the right direction while crafting something relatively new.

For all the beats and sampled instrumentation here, The View from Halfway Down has a wonderfully organic feel. A lot of that is thanks to the engineering of this record by Gem Archer, Bell's band-mate in Beady Eye, and one-time guitarist for Heavy Stereo. "Cherry Cola" and "Ghost Tones", for example, glide by on the backs of strong, acoustic guitar-built hooks, even as the vocals and effects seem more processed. The contrast throughout these tracks between the natural instruments and the electronic bits seems to place this whole project, to my mind at least, in a similar space to that second, criminally-underrated Beady Eye album, but Bell's his own man. And The View from Halfway Down seems to map out territory far removed from all of Bell's previous work, even as it feels like it's referencing a whole lot of it. Still, "I Was Alone", a real highlight here, doesn't seem too different from "Dreams Burn Down" or "Vapour Trail", it's just that the mood is defined less by feedback and more by a judicious arrangement of live instruments and electronic effects. Andy Bell is, of course, still aiming for the sort of indie-pop that transcends the routine, and this very personal record delivers more often than it doesn't.

The View from Halfway Down by Andy Bell is out on Friday via Sonic Cathedral on Friday.

More details on Andy Bell via the official Facebook page.

[Photo: Shiarra Bell]