Album Review : School Of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire
- Written by David Lichfield
While School Of Seven Bells’ debut Alpinisms was a gentle, abstract, hazy affair, documenting the development of former Secret Machines man Benjamin Curtis acquainting himself with the Dehaza twins' creative processes and vice versa, Disconnect From Desire sees them building upon their now cemented working relationship, taking the floaty, dreamlike feel of the previous record and attempting to forge a weightier and poppier collection. The album itself has been compared to a work of cinema by the group themselves, and they have highlighted the influence of David Lynch on their music, while also incorporating a tighter, and meatier layer of electro into proceedings, aiming for the dancefloor and the passing of the loud speaker test.
Recent single and opener 'Windstorm', a snare-heavy, hip hop-swayed statement of intent exemplifies this approach, with a confident, instantly cherishable melody perfectly welded to the defiant drum pattern driving it. 'Heart Is Strange' is even stronger, a high-octane, pulsating affair which ups the pace noticeably - bold and towering but carried with much grace. The pace doesn't let up with the energetic but rather flat 'Dust Devil', though at this point, the vocal melodies quickly become more and more disengaging. The twins' pretty and ethereal tones fail to disguise a lack of songwriting craft, exposing much of the album as being far more impressive on a textural level than a melodic one, with the sisters' voices used more as atmospheric pads than defining elements of the work. The so-so 'ILU', with it's mid-tempo yet collosal, overly-reverberated beats, takes us down a road marked M83, but minus the sense of intoxication, emotion and drama, quickly bringing to mind the underrated school of thought that candy-coated female tones are a desirable element of a musical product but not enough to sustain interest single-handedly.
The marriage of thick, tough beats, and floaty, shoegazey sounds is one that quickly wears thin, and makes the project sound possibly more confused than intended, effective on the opening tracks, but unconvincing elsewhere. There's little to touch the dreamy, infectious buzz of sublime early single 'Half Asleep' and even 'Iamundernodisguise' - ironically for an act that build their tracks up from lyrical beginnings alone, the words themselves all too often blend too far into the extravagant mix of sounds to be deciphered with any ease. 'Camarilla', seems typically underwhelming, suffering from an underdeveloped, glistening, Depeche Mode-coloured synth line that just falls short of the memorability that could form a stand-out track.
Frustratingly, Disconnect From Desire comes across as a series of promising ideas that seem somehow undercooked, with the twins' tones landing upon the wrong side of monotonous over the course of the album, suggesting that much-used criticism 'style over substance' far too often. Things pick up marginally with the penultimate 'Bye Bye Bye', which carries the element that eludes much of the album - a strong, if pretty rudimentary hookline holding it together. A truly frontloaded album, far more convinced by its own gorgeousness than it has any reason to be, with strong beginnings rapidly descending into cloying nothingness.