School Of Seven Bells - Clash Q&A

With their great 'Alpinisms' LP out, Clash talks to SVIIB's Benjamin Curtis...

Interview Posted by Mike Diver Tue, 17/02/2009

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Somewhere along the line, though the exact moment’s impossible to determine, the several schools of musical movement thought: No, no more. No boxes, no lines; just the pleasure, the spirit, the joy. Embrace it.

Since that day, week or month, musical progression has been mapped not by trajectories of standalone tangents, but by the conveyance of feeling, of emotions conjured by sound that dares to be boundless. This is why when a critical ear hears something distinctly sound-alike they look to highlight its shortcomings; bravery, whatever the end product, will always be recognised and, to whatever extent, celebrated.

Benjamin Curtis’ bravery is there to be heard on the debut album from School Of Seven Bells, ‘Alpinism’; the New York-based musician called quits on his career with space-rockers Secret Machines to join forces with twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza (themselves formerly of On! Air! Library!) on a project that was closer to his heart than his head. While sense cried stick with the day job – going well after two well-received albums – Curtis’ soul was longing for something else. Something that balanced the ethereal with the euphoric, a rush of release followed by calming relief.

School Of Seven Bells are no easy trio to pigeonhole: their music is ostensibly beats-based, tapping into early collaborative ventures with Prefuse 73; yet there’s an atmospheric, almost Eno feel to the swirls of sound that flow about the insistent percussive elements. Trip-hop for a modernity unkind to passing fashions, perhaps; and a million miles from Morcheeba.

With ‘Alpinisms’ earning a widespread UK release this month, and the band touring in support, Clash caught up with Curtis for a brief question-and-answer session.

School Of Seven Bells – ‘Half Asleep’

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Hey Benjamin, how’s things in New York right now? I guess it’s cold, right?
Oh yeah, it’s snowing.

Likewise. Perhaps you’ve heard…
Yeah, you had ten inches right? It’s crazy.

It’s not that crazy… snow falls in Sweden and the country doesn’t shut down…
I dunno. I think if you get that much anywhere it slows things down.

I guess. Anyway, you’re over here soon for some touring – headline dates and then a series with Bat For Lashes. Is touring an aspect of the job you enjoy?
I’m used to it… I like it. I’ve dreaded it in the past, touring, but there’s something about this project… I really love it. I don’t dread the travel or anything.

It must be nice to see the audiences growing, too.
Yeah, yeah. People’s excitement and the response we’re getting, it’s amazing. Obviously it’s great. I wouldn’t say that we didn’t expect this, because if we didn’t think it was worthwhile music we wouldn’t have made it, but it’s also surprising… In a way we didn’t know if it would hit a spot with people.

Seems to me that the hard work’s paying off.
We’ve been working on this for two years now, and we’re already looking ahead to 2010. I was kind of shocked by planning that far ahead.

Well, I hope there’s a little time off in there somewhere…
No, but I don’t really ever take time off. I’d be doing this at home, or somewhere else. When I was home from Secret Machines I’d be working on this in what used to be my off time, but now this is my full time project.

Do you feel the reception for School Of Seven Bells – which seems unanimously positive – has vindicated your decision to leave Secret Machines?
I felt like this was important to do, to protect what I love about music, and my passion for it. I mean, it’s crazy to leave a steady job in an area like music, but I had a feeling it was the right decision. Now that I’m doing it, it’s much more immediately busy… I mean, I’m doing more than I ever did with my other band. It’s like a progression in my career – personally, musically, and in every sense of the word. And I feel good about that.

And do you feel School Of Seven Bells is an act with as much commercial potential as the rather more ‘straightforward’ Secret Machines?
Yeah, I think we knew that there was something really cool about it, and we knew that it was more unique than anything else we’d worked on. It’s weird – when we’re making stuff, any stuff… I feel the world needs more of this.

And what is this? You’ve come up with an act that’s pretty hard to describe.
Everyone kind of... I’m not sure what our intentions are… People use this word shoegaze. I don’t disagree with anything people say about us – they can say whatever they want. As long as they’re listening, you know. Compare us to whatever band you want, as long as they’re good!

Do you ever use Allmusic.com? They’ve got these ‘moods’ attached to the bands they profile.
I do use it. There are always like a hundred of those moods.

There are quite a few for you guys, but my favourite has to be ‘knotty’…
Knotty? (Laughs… and continues to laugh) That sounds amazing. Some of them are ridiculous, though. I really appreciate ‘knotty’ though. If MySpace has that as an option, we’re putting it three times.

The album, ‘Alpinisms’, balances some quite frantic percussive aspects with more drone-like elements. Do you feel a perfect balance has been achieved?
Well, it’s been opposite things to different people – some say it’s relaxing, some don’t. Sometimes in interviews people tell you what they think of it, and I always appreciate that. Some people like the record for the beats.

I enjoy how it has such a full sound, but achieves volume without detracting bombast.
I like records like that, that you can’t tell if they’re quiet or really loud. You can’t really expand on that, but we’re lucky we ended up somewhere close to there.

There’s no School master plan then, when it comes to songwriting?
The master plan is more of a process mentality – the end result is just a product of that. We don’t have this point on the horizon that we must get to by any means possible; we just know how we want to travel there, rather than knowing where exactly we’re going.

And how do you determine when a track’s finished, given the myriad electronic embellishments?
We never know when a track is done. It’s done the moment we send it away. It’s like a little kid – the kid starts and you fix its scarf and hat and follow it all the way to the door, until that last second. And when it’s out the door you begin to worry.

And do you worry? Are there parts of the album you’d change, if you could?
It’s easy to want to change things, but it’s important to let go.

I guess you can always let the songs change in the live environment…
Live is totally different to the record – in my life playing music, they’ve never corresponded to each other. Any recording I have made, I have never felt the same way about when playing it live. It’s easy to look at your record and think: I should have done that. But in a way it’s good to leave that, and think about it again for the next record.

And is the next record in mind, now?
Yeah, for sure. In June we’re looking to record the next one.

June? Will that mean you’re not so active around the festivals?
Oh yeah, we’re doing festivals. We’ll only be recording for a few weeks, then we’ll get back on the road.

Finally, I want to talk escapism. Some will hear your music as a form of it, but as its architect, I doubt it has a similar effect. So just how do you ‘escape’?
Personally I don’t ever escape. Escapism for me is sort of escape from what isn’t here and now, as we worry about so much shit that isn’t real. That’s what music does to me – I’m there in that moment. So escape for me is something different. I experience it when we’re making music – we shut off what’s not necessary in our brains, and never discuss the music too much. It just happens. You don’t know how you got there, but you play it back and think: Wow, that’s crazy, I never would have thought of that.

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‘Alpinisms’ (special edition) is released on February 23 via Full Time Hobby. Find the band on MySpace HERE and see them live as follows:

February
23 Dublin Whelans
24 Glasgow Captain’s Rest
25 Leeds Cockpit
26 London Cargo
27 Manchester Night & Day
28 Bristol Start The Bus

March
1 Brighton Audio

April (* with Bat For Lashes)
7 Manchester Ritz *
8 Glasgow QMU *
9 Newcastle Northumbria University *
11 Leeds Metropolitan University *
12 Birmingham Town Hall *
13 Oxford The Regal *
15 Bristol Anson Rooms *
16 Brighton Corn Exchange *
17 London Shepherds Bush Empire *