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What pushes these songs past mere worship involves cunning collisions of robust rhythm, caressing noise, and heavenly melody, with each element equally crucial. Good shoegaze/dream-pop bands mastered one of them; the most exceptional of the heap, like this group, had all three down.
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In Alpinisms, School of Seven Bells have themselves one of the year’s most intoxicating debuts.
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Alpinisms is an undoubtedly singular album, setting the bar quite high for this burgeoning trio.
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Throughout Alpinisms, the group finds a perfect middle ground between the indie realms of tribal and choral, layering electronic flourishes without letting them overwhelm the arrangements.
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This is a lesson in tender restraint you won't want to miss.
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When SSVIIB play to their strengths--most of the time--the songs are so smooth that you lower your expectations for any strong hooks, as you would when listening to ambient, only to discover that you’re caught up in a glorious anthem,making this a kind of secret dance-music you didn’t know you were swaying to.
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Spacey, ambient, and vaguely tribal, Alpinisms creates a landscape to get lost in. Despite their differing musical backgrounds, the band has a cohesive sound.
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Alpinisms is a futuristic manifesto.
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Alpinisms' sweeping, ethereal pop owes a stylistic debt to My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins, but the debut album by former Secret Machines guitarist Ben Curtis' new project reveals a range of influences and a sophisticated approach to arrangement that sets the trio well apart from less imaginative latter-day shoegazers.
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School of Seven Bells, is a far more meditative and electronic affair dominated by former On!Air!Library! entrancers Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, who sing in mesmerizing siren-song unison, even if they sound like a grade-A hookah-bar act at times.
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The effect is warm goth--New Order with more eros.
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Alpinisms could have used a few more of those moments, when the sounds overtake each other and induce a sense of blissful surrender.
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Under The RadarAlpinism is not a perfect record by any means, but it is a confident step in the right direction. [Year End 2008]
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While impeccably arranged and charmingly sung, much of the album blurs together into a haze of boilerplate ambience with exotic titles.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 9 out of 12
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Mixed: 1 out of 12
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Negative: 2 out of 12
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Oct 2, 2011School of Seven Bellsâ
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seanm.Feb 5, 2009
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ScottTNov 11, 2008Great album!!!