A Thread For School of Seven Bells Love!

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.

lol

be kind, dude justs want to hear another good poco album

"drum machine bleating" should never be said by anyone ever

mark e. smith could pull it off

Lafaye video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUrQnDVWXvo

im in love with "white wind"

"scavenger" and "white wind" are astonishing

the lyrics to "scavenger" are a lot more...specific and vicious than i expected from SVIIB!

Listened to Ghostory on a long dog walk at dawn today. Its very solid. OTOH, what it gains in confidence, it loses in the sense of awkward exploration that worked so well (for me) on the debut.

It's quite handy that this thread is at the top of the page, because I've finally got around to listening to the album today. I listened to it several times all the way through this morning, and yeah, I love this a hell of a lot. Even 'Lafaye', which I wasn't too taken with at first, has now got its claws in me. I can see this becoming a favourite of the year, and as much as I liked the Chairlift record, this quite comfortably runs rings around it as far as I'm concerned.

as much as I liked the Chairlift record, this quite comfortably runs rings around it as far as I'm concerned

If you're looking for a thing from SVIIB that SVIIB is best at, you're not going to find it in Chairlift (and vice versa). They're not exactly apples and oranges, but very different to my mind.

Apples and oranges, yes, but I get the feel that Benjamin Curtis knows what he wants better than Patrick Wimberly. Caroline Polachek and Alejandra Deheza definitely belong in different horticulture sections.

on the first couple listens this one seems a bit flat to me, but i need more time i guess.

If you're looking for a thing from SVIIB that SVIIB is best at, you're not going to find it in Chairlift (and vice versa). They're not exactly apples and oranges, but very different to my mind.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, February 28, 2012 5:24 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, absolutely. I completely agree with you, and it wasn't what I was getting at in the slightest. Rather, the Chairlift record was the first record of 2012 that I enjoyed and played the hell out of, and I'm finding myself preferring this much more.

"scavenger" and "white wind" are astonishing

the lyrics to "scavenger" are a lot more...specific and vicious than i expected from SVIIB!

― lex pretend, Tuesday, February 28, 2012 9:30 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

'White Wind' is one of my favourites on the album, definitely. I also find 'Reappear' incredibly beautiful.

on the first couple listens this one seems a bit flat to me, but i need more time i guess.

same here. decent and pleasant enough, couple really strong tunes, but Disconnect and Alpinisms were both top 5 records of their respective years for me, and i cant really see this doing the same. seems a bit SVIIB-by-numbers. and the changes they HAVE made (bit more Secret Machines-y bass throb, less gazey/hazy guitars, fewer overlapped-to-the-heavens vocal harmonies) aren't really to my liking as much as, say, "connjur" or "my cabal" or "iamundernodisguise" or the more stunning songs from Disconnect. "white wind" is really really good though, that's an early favorite for sure.

yeah I am missing the overlapped-to-the-heavens vocal harmonies a bit; I was thinking about that earlier today. I really hope they've got someone else singing with them when they tour.

!!!!!

"Low Times"!!

!!!!!

The thick-range steeliness of the sound oddly puts me in mind of parts of the second Garbage album - perfectly constructed walls of sound etc.