CHVRCHES – Gun

“I first heard it and thought ‘oh’.”

Tim: Unfortunately, Recover got neither the airplay nor the sales it deserved, and charted really rather low. However, Lauren, Iain and Martin are hoping this one will fare somewhat better, and help them live up to their Sound of 2013 shortlisting.

Tom: Thanks for that reminder, Tim. How are the rest of the Sound of 2013 crew doing?

Tim: Ooh, six months on isn’t a bad time to check, I suppose. Not so bad – AlunaGeorge got to number 2 as a featured artist and have been playlisted a few times, Laura Mvula has apparently had a top 10 album (though I’ve not heard of her at all). HAIM have had a couple of top forty tracks and Angel Haze is best known for releasing a couple of ‘diss tracks’ aimed at Azealia Banks.

Tim: This took a while to grow on me – I first heard it and thought ‘oh’.

Tom: Yep, same here. It was more of a “meh”, but the sentiment’s the same. Surprisingly good video, though: taking the 80s aesthetic and using modern tech.

Tim: Not hugely special, not even near the same league as Recover. But I listened a few more times, and it grew on me a bit, and then someone played it at work and I really liked it, although I didn’t know recognise it as this track. Based on that, I reckon it’s a really good song to hear in the background.

Tom: Damning with faint praise there. So it’s, what, elevator music?

Tim: It doesn’t stand up to that much scrutiny, and if you really pay attention to it there’s not a lot to say about it – sure, it’s got the nice twinkly synths and her lovely vocals, but the main problem is that it’s just not what it should be. I know I said last week that we shouldn’t judge tracks based on previous releases, but here it’s unfortunately almost impossible not to. On the other hand, listen to it while you’re concentrating on something else, like I’m doing now writing this, think of it as just another electropop track, and it’s absolutely fine.

Just, nowhere near as good as Recover.