SVIIB by School of Seven Bells

A Sadly Splendid Send-off

SVIIB has been my introduction to the beautiful, trance-like, shoegaze-y dream pop of School of Seven Bells though it is heartbreakingly the final entry in their story. The band began as a New York trio; twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and Benjamin Curtis. Claudia left the band in 2010. In 2013, Benjamin succumbed to lymphoma before completing the band's fourth album. Three years later, as the sole remaining member of School of Seven Bells, Alley has finished and released that album: SVIIB.

Alley's airy, reverberating vocals blend perfectly into the textures: dense and hazy dreamscapes that coalesce and dissipate through the electronic and acoustic elements cooly housing the energy and the emotion that was School of Seven Bells. A beautiful, brilliant, bittersweet finale.