Chvrches

Glasgow’s CHVRCHES fit into a long line of very fine indie bands from Scotland’s second city. The atmospheric, anthemic trio features former members of The Twilight Sad and Aerogramme, but their legacy is all of their own making, an inevitable side effect of their infectiously catchy synth pop and lyrics that are several shades darker than so many of their contemporaries.

Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, both of who had a history on the Glaswegian scene with the aforementioned bands, started Chrvches with singer Lauren Mayberry in 2011. Mayberry has said that the ‘v’ came from a gig poster stylised in Roman lettering, but the band kept it for SEO reasons.

Almost immediately, there was a buzz around CHVRCHES, a buzz that only heightened with the release of their first official single, the irresistibly poppy The Mother We Share. Their debut album, The Bones Of What You Believe, was already the subject of much anticipation when it came out in September 2013. It didn’t disappoint, charting in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. A second album Every Open Eye followed two years later and built on the success of their debut.

CHVRCHES teamed up with producers Greg Kurstin (Sia, Adele, Halsey) and Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) for their third album Love Is Dead, which also featured a guest appearance from Matt Berninger of The National. In 2019, Mayberry teamed up with The National’s Aaron Dessner to contribute a cover of Who’d You Kill Now? to Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight.  

In 2021, CHVRCHES announced their upcoming fourth album Screen Violence with the release of the single How Not To Drown, which featured Cure frontman Robert Smith.