CHVRCHES
Review by Jake Griffiths of Electrodome
Early Chvrches reviews make for fascinating reading. They mostly come back to the same theme - what are they? An indie band from one of Scotland’s more edgy cities, they sound like polished electro-pop but largely self-produce their music, have consistently used synthesizers in each of their 4 albums but carry the look and ethos of an indie guitar act, feel like they’re hurtling full-on into top of the charts territory but carry political weight in their lyrics and art. Are they synthwave? Nope. Indie? Nope. Electro-pop? Maybe? But who cares when they continue to make music as good as this, as consistently as this.
‘I don't want to say that I'm afraid to die / I'm no good at goodbyes, I can't apologise’
Like all the best pop music, Chvrches do a neat line in darker themes with huge hooks, melodies you won’t get out of your head for days and choruses built for arenas. Their new album Screen Violence draws on subjects that have intensified and distilled throughout our phone and streaming-filled pandemic lockdowns, and the album is a huge accomplishment of tackling some of society’s more complex subjects without losing the pop accessibility that makes the band so popular.
‘He said you need to be fed but keep an eye on your waistline’ / ‘Look good but don’t be obsessed’
Singles He Said She Said and Good Girls take on violence towards women (real and virtual) and mismatched perspectives on men and women in the public eye. The band have been through this drama for real having publicly denounced Marshmello (who collaborated on arguably their biggest hit Here With Me). After working with the band Marshmello went on to work with Chris Brown, who later assaulted Rhianna. The torrent of death threats and god knows what else the band received for taking this position clearly influences the tracks on this album - their own kind of screen violence. And How Not To Drown with The Cure’s Robert Smith is a poem to staying on top of the anxiety of expectations - ‘how to stay conscious when you drown’
“In the final part, in the final scene / There’s a final girl – does she look like me?”
Come album 3 or 4 it’s not uncommon for a band to write their opus to the niggles of touring, recording, boredom and record label expectations. While Screen Violence maybe touches on those themes by way of reference to the expectation and scrutiny of a band in the public eye, it’s done through a lens of social commentary and the bending of reality by technology. The album explores how screens are bringing daily violence to our lives through a series of lyrics that each sound like mini-horror film scripts - most notably Asking For A Friend, Final Girl and Nightmares which all include references to horror scenes and often sound like they’re being written by someone running for their life.
It’s impossible to separate this album from the context it was written and produced in, and the album lyrics do an incredible job of projecting back a layer of lockdown, boredom and fear, of a world gazing into its screens for answers and finding only violence and horror. When you layer that up with Chvrches huge electro pop sound and glossy production you have an album that is really fascinating, and the first of their four that achieves real consistency in the themes and sound of the tracks.
