School of Seven Bells: Live in Munster
Words by Camille Darroux
School of Seven Bells are a New York band consisting of two identical twins called Alejandra and Claudia Deheza (who used to play together in On! Air! Library!) and Benjamin Curtis, former member of Secret Machines. They’re a kind of indie supergroup, when you come to think of it. But it was most definitely not the search for indie stardom that made Benjamin, Claudia and Alejandra form School of Seven Bells. Rather, the trio seems got together for the sake of music itself, turning their musical experiments into art. They formed in late 2006 and disappeared completely from the music scene, sharing a house and writing songs together until American record label Ghostly International decided to release what was to become their first album, entitled Alpinism, which came out in late 2008.
So that was the story of School of Seven Bells. Having heard Alpinism enough times to be completely au fait with each and every song, the only thing that could get me to my musical nirvana was probably a live performance of the trio. Needless to say, high expectations had to be met that night, and the crowd buzzed with anticipation. The members of School of Seven Bells climbed on stage in a tiny, packed venue and started playing almost immediately, losing no time in talk.
Even more than their doll-like looks, the most striking and staggering asset of the two sisters is probably their crystalline voices, as each song pivots on their vocals. The only instruments used were a keyboard and two guitars, but this minimalist line up didn’t stop the band from creating a dream-like atmosphere. The girls’ voices were sometimes answering and echoing each other, or mixing together into one multi-faceted sound. Although the sound was fairly unclear and saturated at first - it was sadly not doing the vocals justice- the band quickly managed to get it right.
The band’s bewitching performance seemed to make the whole audience feel dizzy, and everyone was staring at the stage with sparkling, wide opened eyes, and the trio succeeded in warming up and winning over the German crowd in a heartbeat. They played most songs from their debut album, making the most of loud, distorted guitar riffs and electronica beats, along with the aforementioned heavenly vocals. Iamundernodisguise was definitely one of the highlights of the gig, and the audience didn’t allow the band to call it a night before an encore was played. It seems that this could be the year for School of Seven Bells - and no-one will be more surprised than them.
Posted Mon, March 09, 2009