School Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
Every now and then you come across an album and you think ‘Why has this been made now?’ and ‘Aplinisms’ by School Of Seven Bells is indeed one of those albums.
I’ll state upfront now that I love this album, but if it had dropped on to my desk ten or even fifteen years ago it would not have seemed out of place because it is essentially a Trip Hop album in the tracks of Portishead, Mono (not the Japanese one) and Thievery Corporation. More intriguingly, it is the brainchild of one Ben Curtis, former vocalist of Texan College Rock purveyors Secret Machines, and not the most obvious source for music of this nature.
The album starts strongly, ‘Iamundernodisguise’ rattles along with lovely vocal harmonies and distorted guitar over a lolloping beat and ‘Face To Face On High Places’ has a similarly uptempo groove a delightful vocal washes, but then starts to drift a little in the middle.
‘Half Asleep’ does exactly what it says on the tin; ‘Wired For Light’ introduces a little Middle Eastern flavour in to the mix; ‘For Kalaja Mari’ hardly makes an impression. All of these tracks are nice enough, but hardly remarkable but then along comes ‘White Elephant Coat’ to prod the listener out of torpor. The bass line is dark and moody and this time the vocals are sharp, almost angular. The net effect is something unsettling and haunting.
The real moment that defines this album though is the mighty ‘Sempiternal / Amaranth’. Eleven and a half minutes of pounding, psychedelic electronic, reminiscent of The Chemical Brothers at their spaciest, that drags you along and uplifts beautifully.
All in all, something of a curates egg of an album. Beautifully produced, elegantly made and almost hopelessly out of its era. I love it, but I wonder how many others will feel the same way? You never know, the Trip Hop revival may start here!
Top Tracks: 'Iamundernodisguise', ‘Sempiternal / Amaranth’.
Released 10/11/2008 on Full Time Hobby