School of Seven Bells Interview

School of Seven Bells, consisting of the sublime Deheza twins and their lynchpin guitarist Benjamin Curtis, are set to hit Britain by a magical tempest storm with their debut album Alpinisms. Their lucid-dream evoking sounds, created by the hauntingly beautiful voices of the twins, have had them touring with bands such as Prefuse 73 and currently Bat for Lashes, who’s almost sold-out tour is initiating them into the perfect British fan base.

Catching up with them before their 4th gig of the tour in Leeds, they seem pleased with how it’s gone so far. All they knew of Bat for Lashes (who they say is still “pretty underground in the US”) is “that song with the bicycles” – ‘What’s a Girl to do’ - which Alej insisted “blew her mind it was so good”. This little knowledge considered, it was a great fit for School of VII Bells to go before Bat for Lashes, and I was extremely deflated when after only half an hour they blew us away with their final song and modestly departed the stage.

When introducing School of VII Bells to an audience in the UK, you would expect there to be a good understanding of their shoe-gaze ambient pop, what with the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine’s perennial popularity. They agreed that these comparisons are often made about them, and with it usually comes a “… and I’m a hugee Cocteau Twins fan”, so the reference point is nearly always an encouraging hit. Ben talks of different sensibility in the U.S in more “base level” approaches to music, in contrast to the “appreciation of complexity” here; reactions which are different but equally good in both musical climates.

Both the twins and Benjamin were in previously successful groups before forming for this one, most notably the great cult band The Secret Machines of which guitarist Ben was a part of with his brother. The sound they have brought to SOVIIB is, however, remarkably different and has thus developed a fan base very much apart from their earlier projects. Ben admits that some SM fans “don’t understand the direction”, and most of their current bands don’t even know what their old stuff sounded like. When being determined to stay in the music industry, as they are, they realised that they had to challenge themselves. “Hearing the same music too long- you can fall into habits… when you want to be doing something for a really long time you have to develop your brain a bit more”.

They state that the dream-like atmosphere they invoke on record and in their live set is not a conscious effort; it is just a sum result of the three of them working together with a background in listening to psychedelic music. Hearing them on record, it is difficult to imagine just the three of them creating such an impressive sound. They say that playing live is “totally its own experience” but approached “with the same intention” hence it is just as good- or in my opinion- better.

Both Bat for Lashes and SOVIIB are headed by talented female artists; a fact which is unavoidably incongruous in an industry ever dominated by men. The twins smirk when we bring this up and explain it is something they are often reminded of. Alej passionately elaborates her views of the topic;

“I’m really surprised at how backwards things still are… Like when you’re at a venue and the engineer automatically bypasses the girl and asks the dude what’s going on. It starts there, but it can be anything from reading music press and girls’ voices are always “angelic”, or you’re “ethereal” or you’re a “banshee”. It feels like even if you’re singing with authority and in a very direct tone you’re still placed in the safe category”

As part of the music press, I can empathise with those who cannot help but describe their voices as ethereal, but there is also no doubt they are rifled with authority and blessed with a creativity that surpasses the uninventive mainstream sounds which are screamed down our airwaves. And with 69 more shows ahead of them, it seems that more people are actually tending to agree with this.