It’s been a while since we’re heard from Brooklyn’s BELL, the band’s debut EP was released over 3 years ago. It was so long in fact, that her debut LP, Diamonite, completely passed me by. So three months after the record’s release, I feel it’s time to regroup and discuss.
Diamonite isn’t so much of a reinvention as it is a reimagining of the piano based sounds we heard on the first record. Despite the new direction, the sweet sounds of Olga Bell’s voice are as omnipresent as ever, combining the otherworldly aspects of Bjork’s persona with Regina Spektor like observations. It’s an engrossing combination of vocal styles, yet still utterly BELL.
What perhaps stands out above all else is the energy that serves as a backdrop to Bell’s vocals. Voice recordings clash and contort, at times forming incomprehensible walls of vocals. The beats jerk and scatter as if on a mission of their own, the different dimensions of the music in a sense feel at odds with each other; but wonderfully so. BELL have an amazing ability to make music that assumes a confrontational position, while sucking the listener in emotionally. They make music that sounds like it could have been made by a small army, but a human army could have made it nonetheless.
With live shows as well as a handful of rather brave live covers under their belt, BELL could very well become a band that are increasingly on music lovers’ radars. Here’s hoping, because they fucking deserve to be.
Stream the album as well as some interesting covers below.