School Of Seven Bells

Tue 31st Mar, 2009 in Features

New York’s School of Seven Bells is a family affair of sorts. It brings together the angelic voices of sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, formerly of On! Air! Library!, and Benjamin Curtis, who played in the band Secret Machines. Their affair, which kicked off in 2004 when their bands played support to indie behemoths Interpol, was finally consummated in early 2007.

The guy playing synths between these beautiful sisters has a chat to FL ahead of their first-ever tour to Australia. For those who have never heard their music, he also tells us what we can expect to see and hear in April.

Well, first of all this interviewer can barely contain his excitement – and it’s clear. “I can’t believe you’re so into our music! Man, word travels quickly,” says Curtis.

The sound of SOSB’s debut long player, Alpinisms, is a mix of quasi-religious harmonic chants, banging beats from laptops and rumbling guitar chords. Its mystical atmosphere lends itself to the feeling of being high above the clouds. Cosmic dreamscapes fill the record from beginning to end. With beguiling song titles like Sempiternal-Amaranth and My Cabal, School of Seven Bells makes you feel like you’re at mass on a – œ60s acid trip.

Curtis recounts the first time he met the girls on tour. “We were on the road together supporting Interpol. I was playing in Secret Machines with my brother at the time and Claudia and Alejandra had their band On! Air! Library! I’d never heard them before and I was so…I guess the only word I can use is stunned. I thought their presence was amazing!”

SOSB shows are said to involve a lot of dry ice. Curtis confirms they like the theatricality of smoke onstage. “I just think it looks so spooky and adds such a great atmosphere to our shows.”

Admitting to deliberately singing in harmony to annoy family members as youngsters, there is something spooky about the sisters’ identical Addams Family hairdos. A certain sense of the occult lurks. “We like to put on a show and that doesn’t just involve the music. We want there to be a mood created and I suppose the whole mystical appearance goes hand in hand with how our music sounds.”

So what’s in the Brooklyn trio’s name? “Ali saw this documentary on TV about a mythical South American pickpocket academy called the School of Seven Bells that was supposed to have existed in the – œ80s. She loved the idea of these seven minds all working together to steal from this manikin with all these bells attached to it – also the name has such a cryptic musicality to it, we thought it was perfect.”

At the centre of the band’s songs, more than any other element, is the vocals. “The girls wanted to do something vocally that no one else was really doing: you know, spend a lot of time on vocal arrangements, take the whole harmony concept to a different level. They’re not really into that formulaic rock ‘n roll thing. This is way more electronic than anything we have ever done and we feel that there’s still a warmth and rich texture to the songs.”

The title of their debut album is a derivation to René Daumal’s concept of alpinism, which he defined as – œthe art of climbing mountains’. “The name of the album is kind of also linked to that idea of people treating their actions as an art, like mountaineers can only carry enough for themselves to survive. It’s about people in their everyday existence making sure their actions are carried out with consideration and poise. That’s how we hope we produce our music.”

Alpinisms is out now through Speak N Spell Records. School of Seven Bells play the following shows in April.

Thursday 23 – The Gaelic Club, Sydney
Friday 24 – The Zoo, Brisbane
Saturday 25 – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne