The Brooklyn Bowl, more well-known for its DJ sets and…well…bowling, isn’t the ideal venue for a rock concert. Despite the bum location, School of Seven Bells still played to a sold-out crowd in Williamsburg, ready to play their special brand of electronic dream pop. One might expect the sound of bowling balls crashing against pins to interrupt the music, but there was certainly enough noise coming from the stage to drown even that out. Unfortunately, not all of this noise was pleasant to the ears.

Before the crowd got a chance to lose themselves in School of Seven Bells’ set, they were treated to two very different opening acts. Both Shigeto and Active Child may seem like odd choices for the show, but they represented two sides of the Seven Bells coin. Combine Shigeto’s electronic noise art with Active Child’s gospel-tinged ambience and you essentially have written the formula for the headlining act.

Shigeto’s Zachary Saginaw, touring member/drummer for Seven Bells, brought on a friend to join him as guitarist and fellow synthesizer player. The musically mental compilation was a mix of drums, guitar, and electronica, giving the venue an ambient and almost rave-like sound. While their abstract and improvised-sounding music was attention-grabbing at first, the length of their act (about 45 minutes) combined with their style led to some redundancy. With no clear songs, it faded into little more than background noise after half an hour or so. While Saginaw’s impressive drum solo at some point brought some more life to the ambience, he didn’t even give time for the audience to applaud before heading right back to the synthesizer. The lesson here? It’s tough to listen to rave music if there are no opportunities to dance.

If Shigeto faded into the background, then Active Child slinked its way up to the front with its delicately haunted arrangements. Starting off on a harp, the project’s founding member, Pat Grossi, let out a trembling falsetto that glided over the crowd as smoothly as his hands glided over the strings. Beautiful, earthy arrangements made their way through the speakers, picking up bits of electronic ambiance along the way. The first half of the set should have been retitled Music for Lord of the Rings, creating a soundtrack for grassy hills and long journeys from Rivendell. The second half was a combination of what a dance party at Minas Tirith would sound like, and good old-fashioned guitar rock. Even though the sound varied, the band’s personality and Grossi’s impressive vocals remained intact.

After a pretty short setup time, School of Seven Bells arrived from the rafters for an hour-long set. While they first appeared a little nervous, they quickly relaxed by the second or third song. The band didn’t talk to the crowd much, instead letting the floating, dual vocals of sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza keep everyone’s attention. The group was all business, quickly moving from one song to the next, but they looked like they were having a good time as well. In terms of the actual music, Seven Bells sounded much rougher than on their well-polished albums. This definitely helped to give the group a more dynamic sound, letting them improvise and adjust as needed. From an aggressive “Half-Asleep” to the whistle melody of “Windstorm”, the set covered ground from both of the band’s records in tighter and sometimes unexpected ways. The person everyone’s eyes were on, though, was guitarist Benjamin Curtis, who proved to be a monster on the six-string. Whether he spent the song pushing the several dozen pedals at his feet or swinging his instrument around like a madman, it was all done with both precision and a sense of wild abandon at once.

While School of Seven Bells had really refined musicianship and instrumentation, they’re the type of band that needs a really good sound system to work. Sadly, the one they had at Brooklyn Bowl didn’t cut it at all, severely hurting their performance. First off, the vocals were way too buried in the mix, making it impossible to distinguish anything the sisters were singing or saying.  Secondly, the guitar effects became way too shrill, sounding more like feedback and deafening white noise at times. As a result, headaches were plentiful by the end of the evening. With better equipment or a better venue, the music would have soared, which makes the crippling technical problems that much more painful.

School of Seven Bells looks like a band that’s still forming their live identity, but are definitely on the right path.  With Curtis’ intense, effects-laden guitar and the harmonies of the Deheza sisters, the band looks to only grow in popularity. Hopefully, next time around, they’ll have the equipment to match their musical ambitions.

Photography by Dana Grossman.
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