Words originally for Outline Magazine
Label: Virgin EMI
Release Date: September 25th, 2015
Following an album as acclaimed as Chvrches’
debut, 2013’s The Bones of What You
Believe, was never going to be an easy feat, but without a doubt the
Scottish three piece have bested themselves a thousand times over on their new
effort. Every Open Eye fuses pop with
delicate electronica as its predecessor did, but with heightened strength, lyrically,
thematically and musically. A sense of aggression can be felt in tracks like Empty Threat and Leave A Trace, front woman Lauren Mayberry channelling the emotion
of constantly tackling Twitter trolls and online misogynists, which she’s been
in the news for regularly over recent months. Leave A Trace, the album’s lead single, is an energetic dance
anthem on the surface but lyrically it’s raw and emotive. Mayberry sings “I will show restraint/Just like we said we
should… You think I’ll apologise for things I left behind but you got it wrong”.
Elsewhere the tone is lowered but the depth remains, like on closing track Afterglow, a simple but beautiful piece that
highlights Mayberry’s phenomenal vocal capabilities. To summarise, Chvrches are
real mad about stuff, and they’ve refined and exploited that anger to craft an
intricately divine new record. You’d be stupid not to buy it.
9/10
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