Album Review: CHVRCHES - The Bones Of What You Believe

CHVRCHES
The Bones Of What You Believe
Rating: Woof Daddy

Scottish trio CHVRCHES burst on the scene last year with two hard hitting electro-pop tracks, "Lies" and "The Mother We Share," which paired dense, over the top club tracks with Lauren Mayberry's soft yet confident vocals adding a nice organic contrast to the machine created sounds. With each subsequent single they kept raising the bar higher and higher for themselves, and now with the release of their debut full length, The Bones Of What You Believe, we now have a year's worth of work to evaluate, and what they have ended up with is the best pop album of the year. Working from a limited palate, merely keyboards and drum programming, CHVRCHES are able to put together a remarkably cohesive sound with subtle changes from track to track that provide textural and atmospheric interest while still smacking you left and right with some of the tastiest pop hooks.

Starting the album off with one of their initial singles "The Mother We Share" gets things off on the right now, Mayberry's soft burr keeping the bright, candy coated synths in check. The keyboards remind me a lot of early Knife singles, providing a jolt of major key brightness, while Mayberry's lyrics contrasting with a downbeat tone. The remainder of the track feels like the logical extension of The Knife's precision, M83's star-scraping grandeur, and Purity Ring's emotional heft.



And while the singles that have been released so far all included here, the deceptively bright revenge track "Gun,"



pounding synth workout "Lies,"



and epic synthpop ballad "Recover,"



they work well with the new tracks, and even sometimes are eclipsed by them. What makes The Bones Of What You Believe such a great pop record is that the band didn't rush to throw together a record that would have singles and some filler, but really thought about how all these tracks needed to work with each other for maximum effect.

Highlights of the record are the throbbing, electro track "Science/Vision" that builds into something quite spectacular,



brilliant dance track "We Sink" which again disguises bleak lyrics with a sunny synth pop base,



texturally complex "Lungs," and delicate electro ballad "Night Sky,"



Even the two tracks not sung by Mayberry add complexity to their sound. And while there appears to be a slight critical backlash against these tracks sung by keyboardist Martin Doherty, I have an affinity for his voice, which has a lonely, weighted quality that provides a nice contrast to Mayberry's distinctive vocals.

The Bones Of What You Believe is one of the most remarkably assured debuts in recent history. There is nothing new to the synthpop playbook necessarily, however, the band has an innate sense of how to put together tracks that feel as well worn as your favorite pair of old shoes, yet still somehow sound fresh and vital. This is amazing pop music, and should it not be on everyone's playlist, it will be a crying shame. Buy it now. Don't make me shame you.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.