Music

School Of Seven Bells

John Rogers | Thursday 22 July, 2010 19:20

The School Of Seven Bells may or may not be a real place; it’s the name of a mythical Columbian pickpocket academy. It sounds like a setting Hayao Miyazaki might dream up for one of his fantastical animations; or indeed, one of the lucid dreams of Alejandra Deheza, who along with ex-Secret Machine Benjamin Curtis and her identical twin sister Claudia, forms The School of Seven Bells.

Their new album is a textured sonic tapestry, curiously entitled ‘Disconnect From Desire’. “The album’s title is actually an ‘oblique strategy’,” explains Deheza. “It’s from a set of cards Brian Eno created. Each card has a kind of creative solution on it. I pulled this card that said “disconnect from desire”, and it happened to resonate like crazy with everything I was writing.”

This kind of gentle mysticism seems to run through School Of Seven Bells, right from the name through their approach, the shoegaze production values and semi-abstract lyrics. “It’s part of our daily lives so it has to come out that way,” Deheza elaborates. “If something resonates with us or inspires us to do something new then we pay attention to it.”

The School Of Seven Bells may or may not be a real place, but this band have created an immersive synthesis of their ideas and influences that’s every bit as intriguing.

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