PILGRIMS
Paul Noonan & Brian Crosby
Paul Noonan and Brian Crosby - two musicians whose creative paths first intertwined in their school days - have reunited under a new name: Pilgrims. Their debut single Bright & Bold is available now, with a full album set for release on 30th January 2026. The duo will take the project on the road early next year, with tour dates going on sale this Friday.
Noonan and Crosby first formed Juniper (with Damien Rice) before becoming founding members of Irish indie band Bell X1. In the years since, both have developed singular careers: Noonan through Bell X1 and other projects Printer Clips and HousePlants (with electronic producer Daithí), and Crosby via acclaimed film and television scores and his solo piano and ambient work. Pilgrims marks their first creative collaboration in 16 years.
On coming full circle to work on a musical project together again, Paul Noonan says:
“Since reconnecting on My Bones a Scaffold last year, we’ve been working on a bunch of songs that sprung from new instrumental pieces by Brian, or songs that I had sketches for. Colouring them in together. Coming from a more classical or cinematic well, Brian takes the kinds of harmonic journeys that I just don’t, and the songs are all the richer for it.
We did some shows together last April, and played some of these new things. It was there that Pilgrims was formed, in its purist form just piano and vocal. Not torch songs as such, but somewhat similar in their yearning, theatrical sentimentality.
In those small beautiful rooms, it took actually playing the songs for people, feeling that connection and inhabiting the characters for it to feel like it had its own heart and lungs. The recordings are a little more embellished, though often we would add things and take them away - feeling that we knew what this thing isn’t, happy to be a little fuzzy on what it is.”
Bright & Bold introduces the sonic world of Pilgrims: intimate yet expansive, anchored in piano and voice. Listen <<HERE>>
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Paul Noonan and Brian Crosby - two musicians whose creative paths first intertwined in their school days - have reunited under a new name: Pilgrims. Their debut single Bright & Bold is available now, with a full album set for release on 30th January 2026. The duo will take the project on the road early next year, with tour dates going on sale this Friday.
Noonan and Crosby first formed Juniper (with Damien Rice) before becoming founding members of Irish indie band Bell X1. In the years since, both have developed singular careers: Noonan through Bell X1 and other projects Printer Clips and HousePlants (with electronic producer Daithí), and Crosby via acclaimed film and television scores and his solo piano and ambient work. Pilgrims marks their first creative collaboration in 16 years.
On coming full circle to work on a musical project together again, Paul Noonan says:
“Since reconnecting on My Bones a Scaffold last year, we’ve been working on a bunch of songs that sprung from new instrumental pieces by Brian, or songs that I had sketches for. Colouring them in together. Coming from a more classical or cinematic well, Brian takes the kinds of harmonic journeys that I just don’t, and the songs are all the richer for it.
We did some shows together last April, and played some of these new things. It was there that Pilgrims was formed, in its purist form just piano and vocal. Not torch songs as such, but somewhat similar in their yearning, theatrical sentimentality.
In those small beautiful rooms, it took actually playing the songs for people, feeling that connection and inhabiting the characters for it to feel like it had its own heart and lungs. The recordings are a little more embellished, though often we would add things and take them away - feeling that we knew what this thing isn’t, happy to be a little fuzzy on what it is.”
Bright & Bold introduces the sonic world of Pilgrims: intimate yet expansive, anchored in piano and voice. Listen <<HERE>>
Noonan and Crosby first formed Juniper (with Damien Rice) before becoming founding members of Irish indie band Bell X1. In the years since, both have developed singular careers: Noonan through Bell X1 and other projects Printer Clips and HousePlants (with electronic producer Daithí), and Crosby via acclaimed film and television scores and his solo piano and ambient work. Pilgrims marks their first creative collaboration in 16 years.
On coming full circle to work on a musical project together again, Paul Noonan says:
“Since reconnecting on My Bones a Scaffold last year, we’ve been working on a bunch of songs that sprung from new instrumental pieces by Brian, or songs that I had sketches for. Colouring them in together. Coming from a more classical or cinematic well, Brian takes the kinds of harmonic journeys that I just don’t, and the songs are all the richer for it.
We did some shows together last April, and played some of these new things. It was there that Pilgrims was formed, in its purist form just piano and vocal. Not torch songs as such, but somewhat similar in their yearning, theatrical sentimentality.
In those small beautiful rooms, it took actually playing the songs for people, feeling that connection and inhabiting the characters for it to feel like it had its own heart and lungs. The recordings are a little more embellished, though often we would add things and take them away - feeling that we knew what this thing isn’t, happy to be a little fuzzy on what it is.”
Bright & Bold introduces the sonic world of Pilgrims: intimate yet expansive, anchored in piano and voice. Listen <<HERE>>
