SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS' music is full of tensions-CURTIS' gentle guitars wrap around jagged beats; silky vocals hide behind grumpy, alien synthesizers-but the resulting songs are effortlessly cohesive, and insidiously catchy. Elements of dream-pop, Afrobeat, IDM, and 4AD's gauzier moments provide a constantly shifting frame for the DEHAZAS' lyrics, which they write as mysterious missives between the School's imaginary seven members. On their Ghostly debut, Alpinisms, we get the impression that the three seasoned musicians have taken up full-time residence in a dizzying fantasy world; they move freely within the realm of pickpockets and dreamers, composing a soundtrack according to their own odd, beautiful logic. LP due early 2009.