A Thread For School of Seven Bells Love!

Indeed!

Told ya.

it's funny, because on my first listen I was all "this isn't a shoegaze album, wth were you all talking about" and then I heard the implied feedback/wash of sound and went "....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Hahah. (Now imagine what it's like live.)

kicking myself for not going to their show because I didn't know any of their music when they came through town

Seeing them live was very much the trick for me getting into the band to start with, as I mutter upthread somewhere; having said that, the new album is so consistently strong that it can be its own gateway.

hate to say that as much as i love the new album, the first one does it one better-- if not for the songs (which are equally strong on both records), then the cavernous, shimmery production, which took a slight step down on the new one

that said, "ILU" is the best tune they've done by FAR soooo

I still haven't managed to get into the new album, apart from "Windstorm". Somehow it lacks the intimacy of Alpinisms for me.

Two clips from the show tonight. They're just killing it live these days...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGR9oiMOpMc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5IRzQMG8zs

how's the live set without the 2x vocal harmonies thing?

It depends... I've seen them twice w/Claudia and twice without and out of all of these shows, I liked last night's one the best. I do miss hearing Claudia's harmonies, but they're overcompensating in interesting ways. Ben is basically doing everything now and hops around like a crazed mad scientist guitar hero. Ally has a stage presence now that she didn't really have earlier and with all the noise they're making now I wonder how much of that harmony would get drowned out. Hopefully, Claudia could make an appearance at least on the next album?

Having played Disconnect From Desire to death for about a month now, why is "I L U" the default approved song? I mean, it's a good song, but it seems very... safe, I guess? It's a very straightforward beat, very simple vocal line, very simple vocal harmony, very simple instrumental arrangement... it seems like the least representative song on the album of what this band seems to be about (syncopation and vocal harmony, mostly).

"Camarilla", on the other hand, is just full-on great. I love the way the harmony comes in on the verse and the moving thirds in the second half, mixed in with the creepy suspensions in the low voice of the chorus.

try just getting over a breakup and then listening to I L U
'i want you to know that i loved you' is just extremely emotionally powerful

Yeah the words do take it to a pretty high level, once they sank in.

But "Camarilla" and "Jovian" are just as A+.

yeah forgive me but I'm not about to break up an 18-year relationship so I can truly feel a song

like I said, I think it's a good song; I just vibe off of the musical choices of most of the other songs on the album more

I hadn't been through a break up or anything even close when I first fell in love with that song, but I could identify with the feeling by memory...which I guess is way harder to do if you've been in a relationship for 18 years. But even discounting that angle, the chorus's melody just cuts my guts like a knife.

It's not the melody, though (which is very basic pentatonic scale motion); it's the chord progression that is interesting/impressive in the chorus of that song (and that's mostly because of the false cadence on the first two repetitions followed by the real cadence with suspensions on the outro).

Also IMO the killer line is "And I was a fool to think/It'd be easier to leave/Than to be left behind"; without that, the chorus is kind of powerless and context-free.

(I do like the song a lot but it doesn't strike me as THE SONG of the album, partially because its construction is out of step with what's happening on most of the other tracks.)

I L U is too slick and contrived to have any real emotional resonance with me, but it's fantastic nonetheless. i think it works by virtue of its simplicity -- the restrained vocal line, instrumentation etc. make for a very elegant song.

I just picked up Alpinisms. I see why ppl would prefer this to DFD (it's way more indie)

Update on band and new album: http://stereogum.com/878532/progress-report-school-of-seven-bells/franchises/progress-report/

I like me the sound of that.

*drums fingers*

i had "i l u" on repeat tonight

Behold!

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12978-lafaye/

Now THAT is a late eighties Cure intro.

This track is amazing. Looks like I'm back on the bandwagon.

cannot wait to see them on tour

Only half way though, but the new one is sounding magnificent. Even bigger and more expansive than the last one.

Nice!

Man, the harmonies in "Heart is Strange" are so perfect. I love how they're all mixed evenly so no one melody dominates, and also the way she carries single syllables across measures. It's brilliant.

Listened again, the production and the whole sound of the thing are fantastic, perfect for this sort of weather where things are just getting bright again and the light feels clean and sparkly. I'm not quite sure the songs/vocal melodies are quite sticking with me yet.

A couple of the songs have really big, thick, continuous basslines under them, like they're consciously going for that Skream balladstep sound, except the synths and guitars on top of all that are much brighter. One song later on is like a skittering electronic take on Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins. And on the last track, When You Sing, they're very obviously channeling the Weatherall mix of Soon, but I can live with that.

full stream:

http://hypem.com/#!/artist/School%20of%20Seven%20Bells/1/

confused by this thread's current proximity to the schoolboy q and sleigh bells threads...

anyway, already repeat-listening to "lafaye" and "reappear"

thumbs up on one listen - the twin who left must be seething at how surplus to requirements she turned out to be cuz if i didn't know i wouldn't have guessed. my favourite tracks were towards the end but i wasn't looking at the titles so i don't know which they were

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di6NAiWVCpU

First listen through and I'm also picking up a Laurie Anderson + MBV vibe. Really want to hear how "When You Sing" sounds live.

okay I am listening to "Love From A Stone" on Spotify right now and HOLY SHIT YES

Yeah.

I am extremely irritated that I will not be able to listen to this properly until later today. I'm also irritated that this goddamn flu or whatever I have had for the last few days is going to impact that listen anyway.

The last two tracks are so so so great!

Okay! Finally sinking into this. Damn this is already their most...expansive album, for lack of a better term. It's like they're starting to fill out a huge space. (Also really love how they're repurposing Cocteau Twins background non-Liz vocal shadings -- think the very end of "The Spangle Maker" -- on something like "Love Play," that's a great use of them!)

Ha and I now see that Matt DC said expansive too. He's damn right about that!

The last two tracks are so so so great!

― Tim F, Wednesday, February 22, 2012 5:00 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Last three songs I should say. But it's all excellent.

Meantime they've also just remixed A Place to Bury Strangers:

http://www.spin.com/articles/first-spin-get-school-seven-bells-remix-place-bury-strangers-so-far-away

I'd only heard 'Lafaye' (I think that's what it was called) up until now, which I wasn't too taken with, but that 'The Night' track posted above I really love. Crazy. I'm finding myself wanting to check out the full album now, which I certainly will do. There's a lot of elements to this stuff that seem right up my street.

I listened twice today. This is a serious favorite.

an action album

ilxors that have heard this, please tell me that this awful Popmatters review is just wrong on every level

He's wrong. Also, he apparently prefers Google+ to Facebook. He's wrong often.