Scottish trio decide to ride the commercial bandwagon on their hyperventilating third album
Fast-rising Scottish trio Chvrches go for broke on their third album. They’ve enlisted Ed Sheeran producer Steve Mac and Mr Midas touch himself Greg Kurstin to buff their glittering synth pop into a commercial juggernaut.
It’s likely to work. There’s an overkill of undeniably catchy songs here, even if too many of them rely on bludgeoning the listener with inanely repeated phrases and trite lyrics. Get Out has the dead-eyed ambition of Elle Goulding, while even the heft of Matt Berringer’s weary baritone paired with Lauren Mayberry’s air freshener coo on My Enemy fails to elevate the song out of the formulaic and deliver some gravitas to what is essentially a collection of lightweight and vacuum-sealed pop banalities.
Forever and Never Say Die are both wan synth washes in search of a chorus but Martin Doherty brings some actual menace to God’s Plan, a rapidly building song of obsessive love that has Depeche Mode vintage. This is apparently the trio’s political album but there are no specifics here. Mayberry’s former knack for a cutting lyric amid the synth haze has been reduced to dial cliche vagueness while her vocals have taken on a new stridency suited to the wider global themes.
They’ve got their eyes on the stadia of the world alright and you can expect them to command one of the biggest crowds of the weekend when they play Electric Picnic later this summer. However, the wounded fatalism and forced drama makes Chvrches sound The xx for tweens.
Alan Corr @corralan
