While Monday is usually the dread of any college student’s week, School of Seven Bells’ visit to the Spanish Moon on Monday night should offer a welcome diversion, despite the bands’ distinctly scholastic name.
School of Seven Bells is a three-piece band comprising guitarist Benjamin Curtis and twin sisters and vocalists Alejandra and Claudia Deheza.
The trio met while the members’ former bands — Secret Machines and On!Air!Library!, respectively — were touring with Interpol in 2007, before they decided to collaborate and form School of Seven Bells.
The Brooklyn-based band has a sound that falls somewhere between lush shoegaze and classic dream pop.
The band’s second album, “Disconnect from Desire,” was released in July and marks a different but familiar direction from the band’s 2008 debut record “Alpinisms.”
“Windstorm,” the first track on “Disconnect,” is a clear indication of the band’s new direction, as a driving drum beat and clean pop soundscape complement the Deheza sisters’ vocal interplays.
“When we felt [‘Windstorm’] coming together with such clarity, I think that’s when we felt a lot of the record was coming together,” Curtis said.
According to Curtis, the album was recorded to be played in a live setting.
“We made the decision to write and record as we were touring, and so nearly every song is informed by the performance,” Curtis said. “We wanted to capture that kind of live energy, and we thought the best way was to make it as we played shows every night.”
“Disconnect” contains songs featuring propulsive drum machines and a rhythm section that sets the band’s rougher edges squarely within a broader pop context.
“There are some really strict synthesized moments in our music, but it’s never something that gets in the way of our instruments,” Curtis said.
At times, School of Seven Bells feels like a throwback to late ’80s and early ’90s dream pop sounds, but the distinct rhythmic approach on “Disconnect” makes the band’s sound more of a modern update than a nostalgia trip through old electronic-based music.
“It’s strange because some people say the record sounds more live and organic, but others say it feels more electronic,” Curtis noted. “I think it’s a huge compliment that people can hear our music both ways.”
Curtis said the band has been pleased, but not surprised, by positive fan response in a live setting to the new material.
“The live feedback has been good, but I think we knew it would be because we always played these songs live, and the songs were created to be played that way,” Curtis said.
School of Seven Bells has received acclaim for its intense live shows, as words like “maelstrom” and “overwhelming” have been used to describe its stage presence.
But Curtis said the band has no set formula for how it performs.
“We don’t have too much of a preconception of what our live shows have to be like,” Curtis said. “Each show is different every night. We react to what we see and sometimes even surprise ourselves.”
Despite the lack of a set plan, Curtis said the band does have specific goals for each live show, including Monday night’s.
“The goal is for the show to be really immersive, like you’re surrounded by the music,” Curtis said. “We want to make the crowd feel like they’ve been taken on a journey together, and next thing everybody knows, an hour has gone by.”
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Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]