School of Seven Bells

Benjamin Curtis wants to be able to tell you the truth about School of Seven Bell’s latest album and direction without fear of being described as “corny.” It’s an interesting request until you realize he’s serious. The reason? He’s hoping to convince you that an upcoming Christmas album is actually going to be cool. The few statements he will give about the upcoming holiday effort only detail that it’s “the most nostalgic, sentimental, saddest holiday record you could ever imagine.” Corny is the last thing on my mind.

The same could be said for School of Seven Bells latest dynamic studio long player, Disconnect From Desire. The second effort is a lot more direct, according to the former Secret Machines guitarist, and allowed the trio (also comprised of Alejandra and Claudia Deheza) to find a bit more comfort in the studio. And while it’s intense, Curtis & Co. are anything but corny, musically or in person.

SSv: Last time we talked, it was at the beginning of this new identity, so how comfortable was the studio with Alpinisms under your belt?

Benjamin Curtis: The fact that there is any actual comfort is a huge difference. Making Alpinisms was a total discovery — and I know that sounds corny — but it’s true. We didn’t know who we were and what we wanted to do. We didn’t have any preconceptions. We were just in there figuring out what we were about. What we came out with was Alpinisms, and that’s cool. It took a lot of trial and error to get there.

This time around, there was a lot more trial and a lot less error, just because we know what makes us satisfied and we know how to get there quickly. We spent a lot more time trying to refine ideas rather than having to find ideas that work.

SSv: What things were you still discovering on this album?

Benjamin: We had set this challenge to ourselves to be as direct as possible at every moment. If there is an idea for a melody, don’t obscure it. Just go straight for it. We wanted to be very deliberate vocally and sonically and even down to the rhythms and things like that. In a lot of ways, Alpinisms was very smeared because we had a million things doing a million things, yet we made it work. That was the vibe.

This time the challenge was, ‘Can we do this more simply? Can we have only a melody? Can we sing a song that’s really sincere and emotional?’ That’s really hard to do. Sometimes I think it’s really easy to cloak yourself in abstraction and psychedelia. I think it’s hard to write something that raw. How to do that was a complete discovery as well, so I guess this album had its moments of discovery for us as well.

SSv: How good are you at self-editing?

Benjamin: Very good. Very, very good. In my heart, I am my own worst critic, for sure. If I like something, I’m already halfway there, because I hate everything. [Laughs]

SSv: [Laughs] Not what I expected at all. What does that look like between the three of you?

Benjamin: We do edit each other. I don’t think we pull any punches. When one of our ideas is a stinker, then we definitely let the other one know. We’re definitely blunt like that, so the editing happens really quickly. But no one goes off to a corner to cry about it. We just move on. [Laughs]

SSv: I read where you said that the lyrics were the cornerstone for Alpinisms and that everything else served that idea. True on this latest?

Benjamin: Yeah, except this we did write a lot more traditionally. There were some songs that came together with just some traditional chords and a melody and some words, and that’s different for us. There were a few times where we took a step back and did it in that way, which is an interesting way of working. It’s a tool really. It’s a restriction we placed on ourselves to see if we could come out with a different outcome.

I think a lot of bands go into the studio and they lay out all of this music. All of a sudden, now it’s, ‘Okay, sing your part over it.’ Whereas here, the vocals were there, so everyone has to be really behind it at every moment. You have to be really careful and not step on the vocal. At every moment, you have to take care. The vocal is a spoke in the wheel rather than the dressing on the top, if that makes sense.

SSv: I wanted to go back to what you said about being deliberate. What does that look like for you?

Benjamin: Something I think we did more on this record is having a single voice out there. That’s really different for us. I think the three of us talk about the fact that sometimes a vocal can be its own texture. It can be this solo, raw, powerful element. And being deliberate is just really about going for it. If it’s a song about being sad, then we need to make it really sad. If it’s a song about being freaked out, then it’s making the music freaked out.

We just wanted to make the music as non-confusing as possible about the intent of the song. I think it’s more for us and maybe not something that the average listener would be able to pick up. But when you’re making music to sugarcoat certain things or where the edges are too sweet, sometimes you want to be able to brush that up a bit. But on this one, we just wanted to make it as sweet as possible. Just fully go for it in the moment, that’s what I mean by being deliberate.

SSv: If you’re going for it, is that a reaction to Alpinisms?

Benjamin: No. [Laughs] No, it’s not a revision of the sound, but really a refinement. I don’t think anything on that record is a mistake at all. We’re really proud of it. We just asked what the next step was. It’s really just a personal thing and trying something new within the scope of School of Seven Bells.

SSv: I don’t know the full story of leaving Secret Machines and the girls leaving On!Air!Library!, but I assume that part of it was about the promise of what this new musical identity could be. Is that true and has it become what you thought it would?

Benjamin: I actually had no idea what it was going to be. We didn’t know if there was going to be a proper band or if we were just going to make some tracks and then that would be it. We put no conditions on the collaboration, so I’m definitely surprised that it is what it is. I mean, we’re kind of a rock band now, which is weird. We go on tours and do that whole thing, which is cool. That was never the goal, but we’re really happy that we’re doing it for sure.

SSv: What’s the cutting room floor look like from Disconnect from Desire?

Benjamin: It’s huge. It’s huge. It’s really hard to finish something that I know I don’t like. I can’t get that far on something that I know won’t end up on a record. So we don’t have that many finished songs left over, but we end up with all of these little scraps and we can add those in at any other time. It’s hard. For me, it takes so much energy to finish a song and call it done. That’s seriously the hardest thing to do for me. I have friends who can make 20 albums in the time it takes the three of us to make a song.

SSv: So what’s coming up for you guys?

Benjamin: Stay with me here, because this is going to sound really corny, but we’re making a Christmas record. It’s weird. It’s really weird. But it’s going to be a good weird. It’s cool. I can’t really say much more than that now, but that’s the next thing on our plates.

SSv: Is it a re-imagined effort or is it comprised of originals?

Benjamin: You’re going to know what it is, but it’s not something you’re going to be put on at the dinner table. I’ll put it that way with your grandma or anything. Until then, we’re touring and we really radically changed the touring line-up. We’re playing with a live drummer now. These songs have taken on a crazy life already and just playing the first few shows on the tour, I’m already excited about the way things are going.

SSv: What’s the genesis of the Christmas idea?

Benjamin: It’s not so much Christmas as just the holiday, gauzy, nostalgic vibe that some music has. It’s got this certain sad quality we think is really interesting. We have an idea to chase that down and see if we can get to it. It’s the most nostalgic, sentimental, saddest holiday record you could ever imagine. That’s where it’s coming from.