A Thread For School of Seven Bells Love!

The more I listen to 'Put Your Sad Down', the more I'm convinced it's the best thing SVIIB have ever done. Well, so far at least.

Agreed

I cannot find the lie.

Put Your Sad Down just so levelled up on everything they had done before (as amazing as that was) that we were convinced it was the messenger of their proper, full-on Imperial Phase.

And then.

So I actually dreamed about this album last night. As in, sitting down and listening to the songs and marvelling how good they are. I can still vaguely remember how they go. Actual dream pop, I guess. Ha!

Open Your Eyes is really difficult to listen to but so gorgeous, one of the best songs of the year no doubt. I had no idea that there was a new album mostly in the can by the time Benjamin got ill, and if it's all this good then wow.

Update: album out on Feb. 26, new song premiered, "On My Heart"

http://www.thefader.com/2016/01/14/school-of-seven-bells-on-my-heart

I hear some strong New Order nods in the background of this.

omg another new track and possibly the best yet so far

https://soundcloud.com/schoolofsevenbells/school-of-seven-bells-ablaze

and thankfully no talking-singing this time

I like the talk-singing (but I like the harmony singing better).

By the time this record comes out, we will have heard all the songs! I have really been trying not to overdose too hard on the advances because I want the whole album to hit me fresh from the first time.

Ablaze is a very touching song.

Been listening to their "songs we wanted to cover at some point" playlist and it's very... Hmmm. *suspicious face* Why is there so much music from my actual youth on here, when both of you are so much younger than me?

It's almost like one of you had a big goth older sibling who played this shit all the time and warped your taste to...

...oh.

(I do feel robbed at never having had a SVIIB cover of Haunted When The Minutes Drag considering how great their take on Siouxsie was.)

I'd forgotten all about that excellent Siouxsie cover!

christ, this year already has more wrenching (and great) records than anything else this decade and it's february

I think I saw something about this streaming but can't seem to find the link, nevertheless, "ablaze" is perfect, so is "signals," and the album is actually worth doubleposting

'Ablaze' is fucking wonderful and I seriously can't wait to hear this record.

really enjoyed katherine's review of this

christ, this year already has more wrenching (and great) records than anything else this decade and it's february

― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Thursday, February 4, 2016 3:59 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Like which? I've only just recently been getting through the highlights of 2015. Trying to catch up!

david bowie for one

Agreed.

(it took a lot of restraint not to mention the bowie album in the review, even though that was genuinely where my mind went, because I was afraid it would come off as glib or take-y, and the potential harm outweighed the potential benefit)

Well, I don't pretend to be as much of an expert on this band as Branwell, Ned, Katherine, lex et al but this is probably my favourite of their records. Extremely beautiful, emotional and surprisingly celebratory.

And we are go...

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/18/466971015/first-listen-school-of-seven-bells-sviib?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=music

EEEEEEEEP!!!

NO NO NO OMG I'M NOT READY I'M NOT READY *breathes into paper bag*

I know, I know. I'm trying really hard to hold it together at work listening to this. 12 minutes in and I haven't cried yet but I'm just so overwhelmed and unprepared. I thought I had until next week to steel myself!

It's so good, so far. But I can't really do anything except flail and let it wash over me right now.

The mammoth bass on A Thousand Times More! (Wow, the ending of that song is... wow. What would SVIIB sound like collapsing into a black hole.)

I started listening to the lyrics, got slammed really, really hard by the sentiment, and am now actively trying to ignore the lyrics so I don't freak out at my cubicle.

been really into Ghost Story, i kinda missed it when it came out or didn't engage w/it, what a great album

OK wow it's another of their albums where the songs start good and get better and better as the album goes along. Every time I think I've found my favourite song on the album, the next one kicks in, and it's even better...

Music Takes Me! (This sounds oddly like Medicine, and I'm not saying that because of the producer?)

I'm on "Music Takes Me" now and absolutely loving this album.

OK, Confusion is like being kicked in the chest. I can't cope with that song.

OK wow it's another of their albums where the songs start good and get better and better as the album goes along. Every time I think I've found my favourite song on the album, the next one kicks in, and it's even better...

OTM, at least on initial listen

yo, hardcore fanboying aside, what is this album??? There was a very linear progression between "Disconnect" and "Ghostory" (which I liked but was sorta lukewarm on) but this one sounds SO INTERESTING, like it's so distinctively them but for a band whose sound is so singular, where there is so much potential to regurgitate similar ideas, this manages to have more surprises than I would have expected.

feeling "Signals" and "Music Takes Me" the most so far I think. I've got this playing at work while multitasking so I haven't even paid attention to the lyrics of anything yet.

This was fantastic

One thing that sticks out in the lyrics is that the fire metaphor from Ablaze comes up in a number of other songs. It seems to me that a lot of it is about gratitude, hope, and restoration.

"this is our time" just sort of knocks you for six as a closer, right?

like the king album, this really feels like the sort of thing that's going to give and reveal more and more with each listen

"Confusion" is just perfect, this is a really special album

I'm so happy everyone likes this

Confusion is giving me serious Julee Cruise vibes. Such a stunning song.

I was thinking Eno vibes.

It's all quite lovely. The farewell that shouldn't've been but necessarily is.

Open Your Eyes sounds even more devastating in context. still trying to process the rest of it all but my god, this record. my heart hurts.

it's all great but I've become particularly enamoured of "a thousand times more"

This is a great record. If Hollywood were smart, they'd insert "On My Heart" into every trailer for every movie.

as I opened this thread I noticed the outro of "open your eyes" was playing at the coffee shop I'm currently at (I'd had headphones on) and I teared up

Everything's that I could have said has been said already, but the last three/four songs… what a finale.

I can't be wasting my time with the daggers
When guarding the love in my heart is the battle

The problem (for me, probably not for others) is that right now, The Story Of This Record is kind of getting in the way of me working out what this record actually is.

On one hand, I feel like I've been waiting for it for so damn long (understandably so) that it's been built up into such a thing in my head that no music could ever live up to that expectation. On the other hand, knowing the circumstances of what the creators went through to bring us this record means my brain freezes up in a kind of "HOW DARE YOU" whenever I try to engage any critical facilities with regards to this record.

I just really want to separate this beautiful thing from all the emotional weight the poor thing has to carry I guess.