New Release :: CHVRCHES - Screen Violence

After months of teasing us all with some pretty solid singles ("He Said She Said", "Good Girls", "How Not To Drown"), Scottish synthpop act CHVRCHES have finally dropped the full-length album we've all been waiting for. And oh, was it ever worth the wait. "Screen Violence" is probably some of their strongest work to date; in fact, dare I say it's the best work they've done since their debut album, "The Bones of What You Believe".

"Screen Violence" was written during the COVID Pandemic, while the band was divided between Los Angeles and their native Glasgow, Scotland. And you'd be excused for thinking such a divide would hinder them. Instead though, the opposite seems to have happened; Lauren, Iain, and Martin have never sounded so completely in-sync.

It's honestly hard to find a single weak track on this entire album, and the evidence to that effect is really in the sheer number of singles that the band released ahead of the album, the undeniable strength of those singles, and the fact that the majority of the album's tracks NOT released as a single ahead of the full album could EASILY have stood on their own as single releases.

Lyrically, the album is everything we've come to expect from Lauren Mayberry and Martin Doherty: Topical, introspective, empowering, sometimes sad, and a little dark. So it should come as no surprise then that the album's ten tonne collab with legendary Cure frontman Robert Smith, "How Not To Drown" is an absolute perfect pairing. It's often said that you should "never meet your heroes", however over on Instagram, Mayberry cited that Smith was definitely one of CHVRCHES' "musical heroes", and with "How Not To Drown", they definitely did right by him. For Smith's part, he absolutely shines on the track, to an extent where it feels so natural that he almost becomes an unofficial fourth member of the band.

Overall, "Screen Violence" is probably one of this year's most exciting new albums, and it's one which I personally have had stuck in my head almost constantly since its release.

RATING: 10/10
STANDOUT TRACKS:
"He Said She Said", "Violent Delights", "How Not To Drown", "Final Girl", "Good Girls"

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