School of Seven Bells' excellent second album, Disconnect From Desire, kicks off with the best My Bloody Valentine homage in years: squealing-banshee synth samples, futuristic, industrial sonics and droning, fuzzed-out guitar riffs. But this Brooklyn trio — featuring identical twin singers Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and ex-Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis — are more than just shoegaze purists; they're one of the most exciting electronic-pop bands around, and they prove their mettle with a collection of 10 tuneful tracks that mix the forward-thinking sensibilities of Radiohead with the goth-romance of Joy Division. No wonder U2's The Edge is a fan.

The secret is in the singers. All throughout Disconnect, Alejandra and Claudia weave huge swaths of seductive, intertwining vocal melodies, particularly on the propulsive "Heart is Strange" and the lilting, album-closing ballad "The Wait." Guitarist and knob-tweaker Curtis drives the songs home with flickering electro beats and heavy, reverb-soaked guitar riffs — which, paradoxically, give songs like "Babelonia" a lighter-than-air feel.

This kind of music has never put much of a premium on lyrics — the guitars and the noise are the principle pleasures. But Alejandra imbues School's songs with a literary goth romance. Sometimes it works: On the… read more »