Told through swelling instrumentals and gossamer vocals, "Ghostory," the third album from indie-pop band School of Seven Bells (or SVIIB), which was released on Feb. 28, is an ethereal portrait of a lovelorn heart. The album's sound is both a continuation of SVIIB's shoegaze revivalism and their varied influences from post-punk to trance music. The band's seemingly more confident sound is due in no small part to the their recently changed dynamic as they have gone from a trio to a duo.
What is interesting to note about the changed membership of SVIIB is that its now-absent vocalist is the identical twin sister of the band's remaining vocalist. I previously commented on adapting to a sheared band lineup in my review of Chairlift's "Something," but the sound of SVIIB as a single duo-vocalist does not leave one feeling as if an essential element is missing. Although sisters Claudia and Alejandra Deheza deftly harmonized their seemingly inseparable vocals on previous records, the two remaining members of the group Alejandra Deheza and Benjamin Curtis have upped their ambition to more than compensate for the change.
There were quite a number of different elements at work on their previous records. It appears the loss of one element, though major, was replaced by a deftly altered interplay of infinite others. In the face of necessity, the band reinvented itself to create a realized and coherent musical landscape. It is with this current two-person lineup that SVIIB performed on campus at a Friday Night Rock concert last winter. Even without Claudia Deheza, the duo managed to blow the crowd away.
At the time, the band was still in its early stages of discovering that performing with just two people was possible, and their commitment to putting on a solid performance at the College showed that they were determined to make it work. The band put itself out there at a vulnerable point in its history, and the crowd related. "Ghostory" is the album that best captures the sentiment felt at that concert.
The album is a collection of wistful and weary love songs built around "the tale of a young girl named Lafaye and the ghosts that surround her life," according to the record label's site. While the album conceit is not quite apparent in the abstract and enigmatic lyrics one could decipher a plot along the lines of "Lafaye loses love, finds love again" the album is sonically and thematically consistent. The vague storytelling reflects the airy and amorphous sound of the album and leaves room for the listener to project their own emotions and experiences onto the story.
"Everyone has ghosts," Alejandra Deheza said on the record label's site. "They're every love you've ever had, every hurt, every betrayal, every heartbreak. They follow you, stay with you."
The intense relatability and melodramatic elements of the music are arguably what make any good love song a good love song. It is the "familiar unfamiliar" that Alejandra Deheza sings of in the track "Lafaye." Listeners may not completely understand the events or details of Lafaye's journey, but they definitely understand the complex sentiments through a welcomed manipulation of their empathy. The intimate lyrics shift between first, second and third person and leave the listener wondering if the story of Lafaye is the story of the singer, of some fictional character or of themselves.
The music of "Ghostory" straddles a line between the music to which one dances wildly to with friends and the music one sits in bed listening to with headphones, contemplating one's own ghosts from the past. It is both outgoing and introspective as well as catchy and gloomy, reminding the listener that interpersonal connections are as important as the connection with oneself.
SVIIB is currently on tour and will be at the Brighton Music Hall in Boston on May 4. To hear more from their latest album, check out their performance on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" or their new video for "Lafaye" on RollingStone.com.
