REVIEW: School of Seven Bells - Disconnect from Desire

School of Seven Bells - Disconnect from Desire
MMM1/2

Desire is what drives us, motivates us to make things happen. It's a magnet for so many things, and, without it, the world can be a troubling place. To lose that connection with desire provokes a certain melancholy and anguish. Disconnect from Desire is letter to love lost and the pain incurred over time passed. The electronic backdrop here serves as a counterpoint to the emotive vocals and melodies that fill the album with such warmth.

And while Disconnect from Desire might work with a motif of melancholy, members Benjamin Curtis and twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza work under the guise of sweet pop melodies and even sweeter harmonizations between the Deheza sisters. In the haze of the album's obvious shoegaze influences, School of Seven Bells becomes quite an ethereal force. On songs like "Windstorm" and "Joviann," the dream pop nature of the songs moves the music high into the air, sounding almost heavenly. When the Deheza sisters hold out the last word of the line "Dismantled as the dust, parted by the wind" in "Dust Devil," it almost feels as though you're riding a strong gust of wind, floating far, far away. Disconnect from Desire is the type of album you'd imagine astronauts listen to while flying high above the earth in space.

What really makes these songs effective is the subtle infusion of electric guitar. While most of the songs are characterized by their synthesizer riffs, it's the guitar in songs like "Babelonia" and "Camarilla" that gives them serious backbone and keeps things fluid. "Heart Is Strange" may hook you with the bounce of the synthesizer pattern, but it's the pensive Smith-meets-Cure-style guitar riff that really gives the song life. Aside from the rapid beat of synth in "Camarilla", what really grabs your ears and pulls you up to the clouds is the mammoth guitar riff.

Disconnect from Desire might not be breaking any new musical ground, but it's charming and filled with an attractively sweet melancholy. It's an album characterized by a sort of shy beauty and honesty that makes it both relatable and engaging. Disconnecting from desire never sounded so beautiful.

BUY: Disconnect from Desire is out now on Ghostly International/Vagrant. Get it here.