School of Seven Bells 'Alpinisms' album

"Half Asleep" is a new song by off their new album "Alpinism". "Alpinism" is an electronically enhanced pop record of dizzying highs and claustrophobic lows, whose painstaking conception shows in its detail-laden crevices.

School of Seven Bells’ full-length debut, Alpinisms, is best introduced with a little etymology: Mercurial French author Rene Daumal defined “alpinism” as “the art of climbing mountains.” Art, of course, means many things: the perfection of craft, the transcendence of spirit, the physical world and the truth found beyond it. Alpinists, then, are both athletes and mystics. They practice “pure” climbing, hands gripping the cragged incline sans rope or guide, forcing their bodies ever-upward in the name of earthly enlightenment. “Alpinisms,” says Daumal enthusiast and guitarist Alejandra Deheza, “are mountain-climbing songs.”

Alpinism is an electronically enhanced pop record of dizzying highs and claustrophobic lows, whose painstaking conception shows in its detail-laden crevices. On the album’s best tracks—the polyrhythmic dream-pop of “Face to Face in High Places,” the nervous shimmer of “My Cabal,” the menacing lilt of “Iamundernodisguise”—Curtis constructs layers of shoegazing, moiré-patterned guitars, while Alejandra and Claudia Deheza intertwine their near-identical voices like the fingers of praying hands. Throughout, the whole heavenly affair is tethered to the ground with a glitchy, tribal thwomp.

In Alpinisms, technology collides with cryptic religious imagery and good, old-fashioned rock music; knowledge begets action; and School of Seven Bells master an alien climate with effortless artistry.

biography
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, as did the phrase’s cryptic musicality, and a creative spark ignited.

By the end of 2006, Curtis and the Deheza sisters had completely disappeared into School of Seven Bells. From the outset, it was clear that the trio’s music transcended the usual genre restrictions. Early recordings popped up on Sonic Cathedral, Table of Elements, and Suicide Squeeze, then Blonde Redhead tapped School of Seven Bells for a tour. Remixes came from Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie and Prefuse 73, whose “Class of 73 Bells,” a re-imagining of SVIIB’s “Iamundernodisguise,” ended up on his 2007 album Preparations (Warp).

School of Seven Bells’ 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. On their Ghostly debut, Alpinisms, we get the impression that the three seasoned musicians have taken up full-time residence in a dizzying fantasy world; they move freely within the realm of pickpockets and dreamers, composing a soundtrack according to their own odd, beautiful logic.

tour dates
11/11 ATLANTA, GA – THE EARL
11/12 CHARLOTTE, NC - Tremont Music Hall
11/13 WASHINGTON, DC – Black Cat
11/14 NEW YORK, NY – Webster
11/15 PHILADELPHIA, PA – Starlite
11/16 NORTHAMPTON, MA – Pearl Street
11/18 BOSTON, MA – Middle East Downstairs
11/19 MONTREAL, QC – Studio
11/20 TORONTO, ON – Opera House
11/21 CHICAGO, IL – Bottom Lounge
11/22 MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Triple Rock
11/25 SEATTLE, WA – Neumo’s
11/26 VANCOUVER, BC – Richard’s on Richards
11/27 PORTLAND, OR – Doug Fir
11/28 SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The Fillmore
11/29 LOS ANGELES, CA – Fonda Theater

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School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms