School of Seven Bells
Disconnect From Desire
Just having all the same pieces in play doesn’t automatically guarantee a repeat of a previous triumph. Maybe it’s simply familiarity that’s dulling the once astonishingly refreshing ways School of Seven Bells put their songs together, but like many bands before them who similarly created magic with their debut albums, this Brooklyn trio can’t quite harness the same level of energy for their sophomore effort. Their remarkable 2008 debut Alpinisms was a thriving mix of sweeps and crashes with dynamic balance between Benjamin Curtis’ layers of atmospheric synths and shoegaze guitars, and the divine intertwined vocals of sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza all set atop vital rhythms that provided ample momentum. All of the individual elements are again collected for Disconnect from Desire, but as the name implies, they come across with far more detachment this time out. Instead of each song building its own presence, the tracks on Disconnect tend to drift over each other’s edges and get lost in the drifting atmospheric fogs that the band so ably channeled on Alpinisms. That’s not to say there’s nothing to like on their latest release. Welcome touches of techno make appearances on “Dust Devil” and “Camarilla” while off-center pop influences come into the fore on “Bye Bye Bye” and especially on closer “The Wait” Alejandra and Claudia’s dual vocal leads remain breathlessly alluring. Yet taken as a whole, it almost seems as if the sisters Deheza and Curtis have stopped to admire the unique musical presences they created rather than running free with their distinct sound and finding out just how far their considerable musical potential can take things.
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