CHVRCHES catapulted into the indie music scene after premiering its first single, “Lies” in may of 2012. Since then, the Scottish synth-pop trio was ranked fifth in BBC’s “Sound of 2013,” featured regularly on Pitchfork and Spin, and performed on Jimmy Fallon.
A handful of CHVRCHES’ acclaimed songs floated around the Web for more than a year without a proper album and generated considerable hype. But the band’s honeymoon phase is over—its premiere album The Bones of What You Believe leaked last week.
To put it simply, The Bone of What You Believe is a pop album with the façade of a late-80s exercise montage but in that way it is great. The Bones of What You Believe is lyrically as deep as a pop album gets and offers a refreshing sound, but its faults lie in repetition.
Songs from The Bones of What You Believe are what should play on the radio, and they very well might. The songs aren’t too edgy for the public, although the 80s synth-pop aesthetic strays left of the mainstream.
The subjects of CHVRCHES’ songs don’t stray from typical pop—most are about love, for better or worse. They are easily relatable but remain poetic.
The album’s fuse is lit by, “The Mother We Share,” which takes vocal samples to create a mirroring synth-track with Lauren Mayberry’s sweet, powerful vocals rising above it.
Mayberry sings “Until the night falls, we’re the only ones left/I bet you even know, where we could go/And when it all f**ks up, you put your head in my hands/It’s a souvenir for when you go.”
The lyrics are esoteric, but rooted in love. Whether it is interpreted as a break up or a fight, they are ultimately optimistic, as pop should be.
“Tether” is a beautiful power ballad. It begins slow and plain, and it ends with Mayberry singing strong over frantic synth that could have come straight from Top Gun.
Mayberry sings, “I’m feeling capable of seeing the end/I’m feeling capable of saying it’s over.” Once again, the songs follow a theme of acceptance and moving on.
Apart from its high-octane synth sound, the album is constructed as a traditional pop album. It has mainly catchy tunes, with a few ballads and unfortunately a few fillers.
The danger of leaning so far into the pop pool arises from steady tempo and repetitiveness and that is the biggest downfall of The Bones of What You Believe. Many of the choruses
“Lies” is one of the songs that just shouldn’t be present on the album. The song is slow-going, with harsh synth and percussion that is slow- going beneath Mayberry’s drawn out vocals make for a lackluster song.
Perhaps “Lies” is the weakest song on the album because it is also their oldest track (by release). It seems dull and underdeveloped in comparison to fully-conceived tracks like the title track, “The Mother We Share.”
If CHVRCHES cut some fat, the album would be exceptional, but because some songs drag behind as others jettison forward, it gives a non-cohesive feel to album with mainly A+ works on it.
Some tracks, however, stray away from the bands main sound and delve into deeper, more interesting sounds.
Reverberating synthesizers in “You Caught the Light” end the album with sounds that reminisce Alphaville’s classic “Forever Young.” It is a beautiful way to end an otherwise good album.
“Lungs” is a choppy-robotic ballad that stands out as one of the best tracks on the album. It sounds like a more modern electronic piece and works cohesively with the other tracks without sounding like a repeat.
Although CHVRCHES isn’t the next Radiohead, The Bones of What You Believe is a well-done album that could have done with less songs and more variation. The songs are more fit for a workout than deep thought, but still provide something more important than a typical pop album.
