My Cabal

'My Cabal,' the third single from School of Seven Bell's Alpinisms, has at its core a rather telling bit of wordplay. The word 'cabal' - usually pronounced 'kuh-BALL,' meaning a secret, conspiratorial clique not unlike School of Seven Bells themselves - is here pronounced 'cable,' like the electronic connector. Appropriately, the song 'My Cabal' reflects that strange conflation of technology and the supernatural, spinning a drum-machine throb, a few chiming guitars, and a My Bloody Valentine-style atmospheric 'whoosh' into a sophisticated dream-pop anthem. The 'My Cabal' single's B-side component is particularly stacked, beginning with the melancholy instrumental track 'My Camarilla,' a gentle 'response' from Cabal, the song's protagonist, to Camarilla, his lady love. A half-time remix of Alpinism's vocoder-laden 'Chain' by UK ambient legends Seefeel follows. Finally, Jesu's Justin Broadrick re-imagines 'Face to Face on High Places' as an overdriven fever dream, saturating the song with melting-film guitar tones and hard-edged electronic percussion. For all of Jesu's added sturm and drang, though, the song ends up somehow even sweeter.