ComfortComes

School Of Seven Bells – Alpinisms

School Of Seven Bells was found by Benjamin Curtis in 2007. Benjamin was in Secret Machines but he left the band focus solely on this project. The rest of the band is made up Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. The ladies were previously in On! Air! Library! So, the band has a lot of indie pedigree to work with so they already have a leg up. They released a single a single back last summer that we really enjoyed around here but not to many things followed after that. The album reminded me a lot of A Sunny Day In Glasgow’s record “A Mundane Phonecall to Jack Parsons” but School of Seven Bells does tend to play with a little more song structure.

The record gets off to a strong start with “Iamundernodisguise.” The track features a dueling/repeating vocal behind a delicate and subdued wall of Ben Curtis guitars. They just play in the background and let all the attention go to the vocals. “Face To Face On High Places” has this very tribal intro to the track that sets up this perfect mood. The song develops into a lofty and surreal track with some of the most tender and beautiful vocals you will hear all year. “Half Asleep” is another track that follows on the appeal of the previous but with a little more structure. The track will close out a lot of mix CDs this year, well its probably more playlists now. “Wired For Light” is a welcomed change of pace on the album. The band shake things up with a track that has a tighter beat behind it with that shows incremental growth to a finish that just slowly fades away and you never really want to see it end.

“Connjur” is another track that sounds so familiar at times it is oddly comforting to listen to. The Deheza sisters both have a very gorgeous delivery and styles to their sound. It is another one of those tracks that when you listen you immediately get lost it and it could go on. “Sempiternal/Amaranth” is an eleven minute plus monster that I was happy to see the song not placed as the last track on the album.

“Alpinisms” is an album that goes along at such a fast pace that you really get lost in the mix. The songs flow between each other. The record has a lot of high moments that will be remembered for a long time here. As the year is starting to twiddle on down this is making a strong case for some end of the year notice.

By John Siwicki