School of Seven Bells
LABEL: Ghostly International / Vagrant Records  |||  PHOTOGRAPHY:?
 
Like many bands before them, School of Seven Bells were born as the result of a late-night revelation. Benjamin Curtis connected with sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza in 2004 while their bands—Secret Machines and On-Air Library!, respectively—were on tour. While watching PBS at 3am, Alejandra caught a show about the School of Seven Bells: a mythical South American pickpocket academy that may or may not have existed in the ‘80s. The idea of seven minds working as one appealed to her, and soon after, the sisters Deheza and Curtis formed a triumvirate, ironically, stealing (or sharing) the clan of thieves' name.

School of Seven Bells really began to congeal around 2006 and still consider themselves an experiment, doubtful that a typical rock band formula will be a possibility any time soon. Their music is full of tensions—Curtis’ gentle guitars wrap around jagged beats; silky vocals hide behind grumpy, alien synthesizers—but the resulting songs are effortlessly cohesive, and insidiously catchy. Elements of dream-pop, Afrobeat, IDM, and 4AD’s gauzier moments provide a constantly shifting frame for the Dehezas’ lyrics, which they write as mysterious missives between the School’s imaginary seven members.

Their debut album, Alpinisms, was released to much critical acclaim in October 2008 on Ghostly International. After playing more than 70 shows on a tour that followed, Vagrant Records partnered with the band and Ghostly to re-release the album in July 2009.

“When the three of us and the Ghostly guys met with Vagrant, we knew it was the right fit for all of us,” explained Curtis. “We feel really lucky that we’ve had the success we’ve had so far with our music, but it seems like there are a lot of people out there who might still have a place for this music in their lives and I hope they get the chance.”

Supporting the re-release, School of Seven Bells will continue their North American tour through October 2009, making a notable appearance at the massive Austin City Limits Music Festival and wrapping it up in their hometown of New York at the CMJ Music Marathon.


PRESS
Pitchfork described Alpinisms as “diaphanous” and Rolling Stone said the trio was “the sum of hip contradictions” and “like an evening mass with the Sixties acid-oscillator duo Silver Apples” while NPR declared Alpinisms to be one of the Top Debut Albums of 2008.

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LINKS
SVIIB official website
SVIIB on myspace

School of Seven Bells - "My Cabal" from Ghostly International on Vimeo.