When New Yorkers Alejandra and Claudia Deheza (twins, no less) join forces with former Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis they become: School of Seven Bells. The band’s second album is shiny enough to make decent pop music without relinquishing any of their shoe-gazer credentials. Citing king of the perplexing nightmare David Lynch, as an influence, this threesome have created in Disconnect from Desire an album that takes you by your senses, roughly but firmly, and has its wicked way with your mind, body and soul.
Opener and 6music favourite ‘Windstorm’ is an anthemic classic that wriggles in through your ear and conducts its cyclone-like business in your brain: a rhythmic, powerfully repetitive belter of a beginning. ‘I L U’ is a love song of clean, sharp proportions and an effortless, soulful simplicity that’s shockingly effective. The repetition of the line “I want you – to know that – I loved you” has a strangely cumulative effect that manages to communicate complete and utter heartbreak without offering anything close to emotive specifics.
On other tracks, the Deheza’s vocals take on a choral aspect (in spite of there most certainly only being two of them) and the vast scope of this three piece’s work shines like an electro beacon in the wilderness. This is, on the whole, atmospheric pop with a triumphant lyrical force and, for many tracks, the potential to liven up any self-respecting indie disco *looks pointedly at ‘Heart is Strange’ and ‘Babelonia’.*
Words: Helen True