School of Seven Bells Guitarist Also a Somnambulist

Posted on Jul 20th 2010 2:30PM by Simona Rabinovitch
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Benjamin Curtis has a secret: He's a sleepwalker.

"There's always a chance you'll see me up at 4AM talking to some imaginary friend," the School of Seven Bells guitarist tells Spinner. "Once as a kid, I called 9-1-1 in my sleep."

His bandmates, Guatemalan-born twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, became privy to his condition when they were roommates. The three had first met when their previous bands -- Curtis was in the Secret Machines, the Dehezas in On!Air!Library! -- opened for Interpol in 2004. Upon deciding to form School of Seven Bells, they moved in together to write and record.

"It was a really quick crash course because we lived together before we went on tour [for the first time], so we knew all each others' quirks," Curtis says.

It's a comfort level that helped the dreamy electro-pop trio craft their recently released sophomore album, 'Disconnect From Desire,' which was self-produced in Curtis's Brooklyn, NY studio.

"We're a lot more confident all-round," Curtis says of the new album. "The first record is about finding out what sort of music you make and discovering what you do. There's that sort of excitement there. In the second, you know what you're doing so you're more emotionally direct -- which is good. When you write something good that also speaks to your life directly, you feel satisfied."

He's also excited about A Place to Bury Strangers' thrashing remix of the album's opening track, 'Windstorm.'

"I've known these guys for awhile, I love them, they're amazing," Curtis says. "We just had the idea to do something crazy and completely awesome. It's cool that [music is] open-ended that way -- once a record's done, different versions by different people come up and suddenly your song is like a [Place to Bury Strangers] song."

So who would be his dream remixer?

"Bernard Sumner from New Order."