Dorks And Losers

Brooklyn-based three-piece School Of Seven Bells got their name from a PBS doc­u­men­tary on a myth­i­cal South Amer­i­can pick­pocket acad­emy that seem­ingly has yet to be fact-checked. Watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur­tles II: The Secret Of The Ooze (although not so much the same) for an idea of what skills one needs at such a school.

Made up of Ben­jamin Cur­tis and twin sis­ters Ale­jan­dra and Clau­dia Dehez, the three met while tour­ing for Inter­pol. They hit it off, left their for­mer bands (Cur­tis from The Secret Machines and the Dehez sis­ters from On!Air!Library!), and SVIIB was born.

To call the mel­low trio a shoegaze band (à la M83) doesn’t really fit, nor does — to a point — dream pop (à la Asobi Seksu). One would have to recall the influ­en­tial Cocteau Twins for a more accu­rate com­par­i­son, but even then SVIIB man­ages to set itself apart in ways that you really couldn’t draw any similarities.

Part of that is a result of the band’s some­what unusual approach in putting words to paper ahead of any sounds to paper. One can’t com­plain because it seemed to have worked with the band’s debut LP Alpinisms. The album title, refer­ring to moun­taineer­ing, is very appro­pri­ate given the amount of work the three put into the album and the result is a com­plex multi-layered and sim­ply beau­ti­ful album.

The unex­pected “Iamundern­odis­guise” opens as a some­what tribal num­ber. The lyrics (“I am nei­ther breather nor speaker / I am nei­ther walker nor sleeper / I am nei­ther sis­ter brother son nor daugh­ter”) seem more like rit­u­al­is­tic chants amid fuzzy gui­tar chords and fill­ing synths. The sub­se­quent “Face To Face On High Places” fol­lows a sim­i­lar path except that it’s more uplift­ing and positive.

The mag­nif­i­cent “Half Asleep” and “Con­njur” high­light how enchant­ing SVIIB can be, match­ing ele­gant melodies with Ale­jan­dra and Claudia’s lovely voices. Even more abstract pieces like the quasi-minimalist “White Ele­phant Coat,” the eastern-sounding “Prince Of Peace,” or the exper­i­men­tal opus “Sempiternal/Amaranth” enve­lope you, like expe­ri­enc­ing diverse cul­tures and absorb­ing count­less ideas through a whirl­wind sprint across the planet.

I guess that’s how School Of Seven Bells gets you, induc­ing a con­fused haze of mem­o­ries and past expe­ri­ences — although more in the vein of déjà vu than a hangover.

[photo via Elle Muliarchyk | Big Has­sle]
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Track list:

1. Iamundern­odis­guise
2. Face To Face On High Places
3. Half Asleep
4. Wired For Light
5. For Kalaja Mari
6. White Ele­phant Coat
7. Con­njur
8. Sempiternal/Amaranth
9. Chain
10. Prince Of Peace
11. My Cabal

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