Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry has provided some early hints on the musical direction of the band’s upcoming fourth album. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Mayberry stated that the new record – which is due for release in the Spring – is “not the frilliest“, with sonic influences ranging from Brian Eno and Depeche Mode to The Cure and Billie Eilish.
‘I wrote down what I was most terrified of': Lauren Mayberry on Chvrches’ return https://t.co/XS3Qk2hDds
— Guardian music (@guardianmusic) December 28, 2020
In the interview, the vocalist suggested that the Glaswegian synth-pop titans’ new material would blend familiar and new soundscapes. She said “It’s definitely got the Chvrches DNA, but I don’t think that these songs could slot into any of the first three records. You want it to be like your band, but you want it to be enough of an evolution that it’s not the same thing over and over again. But how do you do that? Especially with modern day pop music where there’s a pressure to take your sound and put it through the filter of what is popular. I think you can tell that it’s us – it’s not screamo or anything like that.”
Since bursting onto the scene in 2012 with the storming debut single The Mother We Share, Chvrches have gone on to enjoy success around the world with their distinctive brand of Caledonian electro-pop. Their second album, 2015’s Every Open Eye, honed and expanded the sound they introduced two years before The Bones of What You Believe; spawning a clutch of synth-powered singles including the stirring Leave A Trace and the underrated, summery fist-pumper Empty Threat.
The Scottish outfit’s third record, 2018’s Love Is Dead, was another commercial success, reaching number in the UK Albums Chart and topping both the Billboard Alternative and Rock Album charts in the US. Love Is Dead album track Forever has gone on to enjoy a new lease of life through its usage on Netflix’s Spanish-language teen drama Elite. In the week following the opening episode of the show’s third series this year, streams for Forever skyrocketed to over a million, representing a 900% month-over-month increase at Spotify and 500% at Apple Music.
The pattern continued as lockdown measures came into force around the world, with the song breaking into Spotify Viral charts in new Spanish-speaking markets for the band (notably Mexico, Peru, Chile and Panama). In response, the group recorded a new, socially-distanced ‘Separate But Together’ rendition of the track in April.
Lauren Mayberry said that the belated success of the song was a sudden but pleasant surprise for the group. She told Dork: “‘Forever’, in my mind, was always a sort of homage to the songs that were in John Hughes movies. Mostly I write lyrics from a more personal perspective but for this one I always imagined it soundtracking a ‘Breakfast Club’ library dance type moment so it’s strange and cool that the song is now getting a second life because of a TV sync.”
In the aforementioned interview with The Guardian, Mayberry said that the disruption of 2020 had provided a “very useful pause for me emotionally and personally“. She added: “It’s been an interesting time to sit with your thoughts, your hopes, your dreams, your self-loathing. I used to think when I was younger that I would get to a point in life where I would be really content and happy, and I wouldn’t be anxious or depressed any more because I would have figured it out. But now I don’t think that ever happens. I think you just have to become comfortable with the discomfort. That’s been a learning curve over the course of the year, and over the course of making the album.“
