Listen to Ablaze by School of Seven Bells

In the summer of 2012, synth shoegaze duo School of Seven Bells began work on the follow-up to their third album, Ghostory. Throughout the creative process, Alejandra Deheza found herself writing the story of her decade-long relationship with her bandmate, Benjamin Curtis, five years of which was spent as couple. They are lyrics that now seem eerily prophetic: in between the writing process and the completion of SVIIB, Curtis was diagnosed with a rare form of T-Cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. He died less than a year later.

The album they had started to make together will now be released on 26 February, and captures the restorative mood and energy of their final collaboration together.

“We were so happy, and we’d finally reached this perfect balance, after going through all the things we did together,” says Deheza. “There was no baggage, no hurt any more, everything was pure, true friendship. We’d hit every colour on the spectrum. We were so close, and we had this flow like we’d never had before.”

Ahead of the album’s release, you can hear the triumphant, synth-driven tribute to their friendship, Ablaze. Take a listen and let us know what you think.

• SVIIB is out on 26 February on Full Time Hobby in Europe and Vagrant Records in the US.