Artist: School of Seven Bells
Song: Ablaze
Genres: #indiepop #dreampop
Location: New York City, United States
Release date: February, 2016
Comment: The story of School of Seven Bells (SVIIB) is, sadly, a tragic one. It was formed in 2007 by sisters Alejandra Deheza (vocals, guitar) and Claudia Deheza (keyboards, vocals), and Benjamin Curtis (guitar, synthesizers, vocals), but then Claudia left the band in 2010. Unfortunately, Ben, who was Alejandra’s romantic partner, died in 2013 from sudden-onset lymphoma and, as a tribute, Alejandra took some demos Ben had written prior and during his illness and completed the band’s fourth and last studio album, SVIIB, which was released in February, 2016. It is a wonderful album which, despite the circumstances in which it was created, is actually full of hope and even joy.
To me, the best among a collection of great songs is Ablaze, the first track. It’s a cleverly produced song that features Alejandra’s ethereal vocals and sweet lyrics that become even more beautiful knowing the context in which they were written. If you are only going to listen to one SVIIB song, listen to Ablaze, this week’s #ThrowbackThursday entry. You will be happy you did so.
As a bonus, I’m leaving below the link to the video of SVIIB’s cover of Joey Ramone’s I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up) (it is not available on streaming platforms). It was written by Alejandra and Ben quite literally while they were ‘sitting in a hospital bed’ and released just before SVIIB.
Featured on the following mixtapes:
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Their music is really wonderful. Some of the footage in the video for “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” was filmed not far from where I live in the Coachella Valley, as well as in and around Joshua Tree National Park, a very popular spot for filming music videos.
It’s a very popular spot. Would like to visit it someday. Thanks for the info!
If you do visit Joshua Tree, we’ll have to meet one another.
Indeed. That would be really nice!