School of Seven Bells : Interview

Taking your handle from a mythical South American pick pocketing academy and producing the ethereal and blissed out pop sounds which adorn your debut long player already marks you out as something of an inspiration to someone like me, because I thrive on the genuine creativity that hallmarks what School of Seven Bells are all about. 

Not to mention the fact that this Brooklyn based trio have an organic sound that has been emphatically likened to the atmospheric and complicated directions of those Scottish masterminds The Cocteau twins, who were and always will be at the core of the ambient, gothic and ‘dream-pop’ movements they dictated throughout their near 20 year career.  Actually, while School of Seven Bells do bear a remarkable resemblance to this legendary band, they have also carved out their own little niche via the musicality contained within their debut LP ‘Alpinisms’, released earlier this year.

The story behind their origin stems from 2 other bands.  Benjamin Curtis (guitar) was the original guitarist for the well-regarded Secret Machines, playing alongside his brother and getting away 2 albums under his belt before departing the space rock trio.  Whilst identical twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza made up two thirds of the experimental On!Air!Library!, also attracting critics acclaim during their 7 year stint and their own full length album release.  But for each member of SVIIB who met when both bands supported Interpol in 2004, they discovered a meeting of minds and otherworldly musical aspirations, which became the catalyst for moving on and founding the band we now know (and love).

The layered proportions to their complex sound have provided the edge over anyone else bridging the gap between abstract electronica and pop music.  And the notion of psychedelia, which co-exists amidst the subtle reverb and multi vocal harmonising, has provided the beauty and the ingenuity that they have become revered for.  Furthermore their dedication to the live scene has justifiably created a tidal wave effect, which has been steadily gaining speed since 2007, leaving fans and critics alike desperate for more.  And this finally came via their self-funded, self produced 12-track oeuvre, ‘Alpinisms’, released via Ghostly International and spawning sublime songs like ‘My Cabel’ and the magical ‘Prince of Peace’.

During their support dates with White Lies and before they embarked on this years crazy festival season, we spoke with School of Seven Bells to understand where the inspiration for their current sound came from, their frustrations at having their past musical background rehashed and the relevance of Borges literary criticism of Don Quixote……

4TR: School of Seven Bells (SVIIB) formed off the back of 2 other bands that you were all individually involved in, but what was it about each of you as people and your musical ideas that formed the common ground to lead to you leaving your respective bands to start SVIIB?
Alejandra Deheza: Well we met on the Interpol tour in 2004 and the 3 got to talking to start with, but didn’t start School of Seven Bells until 2007.  It took a little while for the band to come together, but was always there in the background incubating.  For me I was kind of surprised initially because I hadn’t really heard Secret Machines, even though they were a New York band and had been playing venues that we had been playing for years.  But then when I saw Benjamin play guitar I was really amazed because it was extremely unconventional.
Benjamin Curtis: Well I play it how I see it in my head.
AD: And the band he was in was like a psychedelic band, but the way he played had a lot to do with textures and rhythms and manipulating sound waves instead of blues riffs and stuff like that, which is what you usually come to expect, so I just felt he was totally what School of Seven Bells could be about.

4TR: So at this stage of SVIIB’s career, having released your first album and toured extensively, do you get sick of people constantly refering to your former bands when they talk about you, and do you hope that association will go away forever?
BC: I think I care less and less.  At first early on there was that need for our identity and a thinking along the lines of why cant people just see us for what we are right now, but now that is less so because you know its cool, I mean we are all the same people we have always been so you can kind of look back and see our progression that led us to this point and I think it makes a lot of sense.   So people can talk about it ‘cos I think its so different to what we are doing now and musically it’s in a different world which I think is pretty clear, therefore there’s really no confusing what we are doing now with what we’ve done in the past.

4TR: When SVIIB formed, did you have a sound you aspired to create beforehand or is the sound you associate with the band now something that progressed the more you were writing and playing music together?
BC: It definitely progressed.  I’m not sure that we’ve ever actually said that we want to sound like this or like that, the plan has been for it to be really organic and just to see what happens and basically what makes us happy.  And I think we tried as many things as possible until we arrived at this place where we were making music and had a sound that suited the songs.  It’s a sound that we really like and makes us happy playing and it’s a sound that is really fresh and different. 

4TR: So would you describe that progression to the sound on your album as making perfect sense as to who you are musically now?
BC: Yeah it makes sense, I mean it’s a perfect combination of everything we really love and I recognize our personalities in the music, so it’s not a surprise in that way, but I’m really surprised at how its just really turned into a style which is great. I don’t think that we’d ever intend to arrive at a place where we just knew we were making music that was School of Seven Bells music and unique to us, it either happens or it doesn’t.  I mean you can’t go out and say I want to make our own kind of music because that’s very arrogant ‘cos you’re always influenced by something and we are influenced of course, you can hear that in our music.

4TR: Many people have struggled to define you although suggestions have been to link it to ‘dream-pop’. Do you agree with that association?
AD: I guess I never really thought about defining it because I think once you do that you’re already putting a set of boundaries on what you are doing, and you probably unknowingly put these expectations on yourself.  So we’ve never really thought about it, we just made something that was new to us so that we wouldn’t get bored; as otherwise we would have probably stayed in our other bands if we were just going to do the same thing again.

4TR: It has been reported that you write in a slightly unconventional way by formulating the lyrics first and the music second.  Did that just happen naturally?
AD: Yeah, I think it was just natural because I’m always writing anyway, so it was just a matter of putting these words into a certain context.
BC: And that didn’t even happen on every song, actually I think it was just a style that happened on this record, it’s not a real strict parameter for making SVIIB music. [Laughing] I mean our next record might be written on trumpets or saxophones or all horns over lyrics.  When we looked back and realized we’d done it that way it was really strange because I think it actually makes us play really differently.

4TR: In what way?
AD: Well I kind of feel if you’re coming up with a vocal melody and there’s no music around it, or just even with certain sketches to begin with, you don’t have any kind of key that’s confining you yet to a certain melody line or anything like that.  And so it can go its own way without having to worry about anything else.  But at the same time the music is very much a part of it from the beginning.

4TR: You employed a true DIY ethic on the record, by producing and mixing it yourself, completely without label funding.  Was that so that you were able to retain the whole creative aspect for yourselves in order to ensure it was a very personal effort?
BC: Yeah it was for that purpose but I think no matter what we do we’d retain creative control because we have very specific ideas and if you thrusted us into any situation we’d probably have a really good idea of what we wanted to do in it.  But also it was because we didn’t need to wait around to make a great album and the album that we wanted to make.  We could have just played shows and waited for a big record deal and maybe that would have been the right decision, maybe we would have had a ton of money if that had happened, but the idea was to just make a record because we were feeling it and were really inspired, and then see if maybe someone would put it out. So we did it and then found a great label that was like-minded.  It was just a matter of doing things on our time rather than doing things in our own way.

4TR: Because you have produced this record yourselves, do you think you would ever be open to working with other people in the future?
BC: Well we’re open to anything, I think its important to make your own statement at first so you can establish to the world that you are in it and then you can kind of move on from there.  I don’t know there’s definitely a point where we’ll have reached the limit of our abilities and knowledge.

4TR: Was it ever hard to just leave it alone and stop working on it for a while?
BC: [laughing] Are you kidding, yeah definitely.
AD: It was really hard actually.
BC: We basically asked the label to give us exactly when was the very last day that they had to have it to be mastered and we were adjusting things until that very last second.  It’s so hard to call anything done, that’s the hardest thing in the world.

4TR: The resulting album ‘Alpinisms‘ has been hugely well received in the UK; did you get the same reaction back home?
BC: Yeah it’s been good, it’s different in the states but I think it’s equally good in both cases.  We were really surprised, because we didn’t have any idea if it was going to be in sync with people’s tastes at all.  It’s just so true that you can make a record that’s great, but maybe isn’t what people want to hear at that moment its released.  But we knew it was what we wanted to hear and we figured that there was probably more people out there like us [laughing], but you can never be sure.

4TR: And that must give you a great sense of achievement seeing as you have been so involved in your record from start to finish.
BC: Oh it’s 10 times more satisfying because we did everything, I mean its so much ours, its our record 100%, so when anyone compliments it its really great. [Laughing] But also if people hate it its like ‘come on man we worked really hard on that’.

4TR: Are your UK audiences different to those at home?
AD: Its kind of similar.
BC: I feel like I have a lot in common with our audiences, which is cool.  Some bands disconnect from their audiences, but I feel great; just talking to people that love SVIIB at our shows is so cool and I love to hear like what records they are into and stuff……well mostly.

4TR: In the UK there has been this huge reprise of experimental electronic music, and ‘Alpinisms’ was released as that was really taking off.  Again a coincidence?
AD: Oh yeah, [laughing] I actually didn’t know that there was that going on, and if I had known I probably would have had more peace of mind about how the record was going to be received.
BC: I was actually pretty sure that our record would come out and coincide with a big garage rock renaissance or whatever and so somehow be totally out of stamp, but you never know man, people just kind of turn it on or they turn it off, its hard to try and predict what’s going to be the next big thing.

4TR: One of the most relevant comparisons have been made between you and the Cocteau Twins.  Were they a big influence on you musically?
AD: You know its kind of confusing because Robin Guthrie remixed our first release over here which was a demo version of ‘My Cable’ about 2 years ago, and he did an amazing remix which I really loved, but you know what I never actually listened to Cocteau Twins really.  But that being said I feel like it’s a huge compliment, because people who say that about us really love that band.
BC: Its funny I have actually listened to more Cocteau Twins since people started saying we sound like them and I go back and listen and I’m like oh yeah, I see it, but its weird.  Of course I see it as cool, I guess maybe we had similar intentions or something, but they started their band like 30 years before we did, so they have got history on their side but our music just came out this way.

4TR: It’s definitely a compliment because many people have consciously tried to recreate the sound of The Cocteau Twins unsuccessfully, but there definitely is a similarity with SVIIB sound and it sounds great!
BC: There’s this short story by Borges where the guy in it (Pierre Menard) tries to unintentially recreate Don Quixote word for word, but he doesn’t do it just by learning about Don Quixote, he immerses himself and replicates Cervantes experience somehow to recreate the situation where he comes up with Don Quixote.  [Laughs] Maybe what we have done is something like that?

4TR: When you take the record to the live arena, how does it translate?  The album is full of intricate layering and structuring so does it have to sound different when played live?
BC: It’s not really a recreation I don’t think.
AD: Well its weird because it ends up sounding very similar to the record.  But its a lot harder live and of course the beats are electronic, but for instance Ben never plays the same thing every night, there’s always something different going on.

4TR: Was it difficult to get it right for your live shows?
AD: Yeah it took a while for us to really figure it out.
BC: We tried a million ways but after we made the album as just the 3 of us we kind of realized that it was important to go out straight away with just us and our energy as the SVIIB on stage.  I think that’s the main thing and one of the top necessities for playing live music is having a good chemistry between the people on stage.  With just the 3 of us there’s not as much happening but at the same time it’s a lot bigger live, because there’s the energy and a kind of spontaneity that the record doesn’t have.

4TR: Well your live reviews have also been very positive!
BC: Yeah but some people really can’t accept the fact that they can’t see a drummer, which is fine as that’s just kind of their own problem. But the thing is we made our electronic beats mainly for aesthetic reasons and because we wanted them to be electronic.  But you know, I think we realized early on just being who we are is the best way for us to be [laughs].

4TR: And could that all change again for album number 2?
AD: Maybe yeah, but actually I think if we’d had maybe another 3 weeks to work on ‘Alpinisms’ it would have sounded different again.
BC: But I think the beauty of SVIIB is that it can take cool turns and can still be inspiring to us and still fit into the world that we are creating.  After 3 or 4 albums it’ll be really great to hear our music because I think it will make a lot of sense to people.

4TR: And are you already working on the next record?
BC: Oh yeah, we think about it every day [laughing] we cant stop thinking about it.  We’re sketching out ideas and are going to be doing some recording in June because there’s just a lot of energy right not.  Its so cool touring like this because playing our music and being juxtaposed against people like Bat for Lashes and White Lies, bands that are so different from each other and from us at the same time. So its cool to see our music rubbing against them and their fans because we are kind of thrust into all these different situations.  It gives us this crazy perspective on ourselves and really inspires me more about our music and so I’m really inspired to make a record just kind of knowing who we are. 

4TR: Finally, do you ever feel under pressure in that case to write hit singles?  Or would you say you are more of an albums band?
AD: An albums band? I don’t think so; I think its like song to song.
BC: Yeah we’re a song-to-song band but you know listening to Alpinisms as a whole really kind of made me love albums again because it’s crazy just seeing how people take our songs as a whole, noticing lyrical themes and then having artwork and stuff.  It puts it in its cool context that I really underestimated. Albums are great. I don’t know, are we allowed to be both? [Laughing] 

We sincerely hope so!!!


Words: Francesca Strange

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