Tag: CHVRCHES

CHVRCHES – Death Stranding

“It’s a weird one, this.”

Tim: So, Death Stranding is a game coming out for PS4 in a month or so, and despite it having been announced over three years ago and having released multiple trailers, no-one really knows much about it. One thing that was made apparent a few days ago, though, is that CHVRCHES have done a song for the soundtrack. This one, to be precise.

Tom: Ah, soundtracks, the perfect place to throw that track that wasn’t quite good enough for the latest album.

Tim: It’s a weird one, this. Admittedly, the number of great video game songs can probably be counted one the fingers of one hand, so this was always going to be a tricky one, but it doesn’t really make much even so. Take the lyrics: the relationship’s falling apart, but hey, let’s have something of it while it still exists. What’s that got to do with anything in a game which, if the trailers are anything to go by, looks to be a first person RPG et it a world after some big weird event has happened?

Tom: I mean, you could ask that of most soundtrack songs: frequently it is just a marketing tie-in.

Tim: Musically it’s, well, it’s alright, though it doesn’t seem all that well put together: it’s the words again, or rather the vocals. Everything underneath it, see, is lovely – as music on its own, it would in fact make a great instrumental soundtrack, easily able to hold its own amongst some of the best. But with the vocals layered on top, almost at times seeming like an afterthought, it just leaves me feeling a bit cold. And that really frustrates me.

Tom: Huh: when we disagree on a track, it’s usually the other way round, and I’m normally the one being left cold. But this time, no: the opening verse grabbed my attention, and it kept going throughout the… huh. Five minutes. This is a five-minute track, and I wasn’t bored during it. Even with the lengthy instrumental in the middle.

If I haad to nitpick, then I’d say I’m not sure about those hard-gated cymbals, but that is just CHVRCHES’ style. I even hoped for a Big Final Chorus, and got one. This works for me. I guess I shouldn’t be so cynical about soundtracks.

CHVRCHES – Graffiti

“This is a really good track, light years ahead of yesterday’s.”

Tim: Weird thing of modern times, probably brought on by streaming: my assumption that now Love Is Dead has been released, there wouldn’t be any more singles that come from it. Pleasingly, I’m wrong, so here’s a new video.

Tim: Bit of a downer on the lyrics, but the video’s nice and fun, and obviously the sound is good.

Tom: You know how I was grumpy the other day about a dull song? I just realised how much higher I put the bar for a proven act like CHVRCHES. This is a really good track, light years ahead of Cherrie’s, but because I’m now expecting something as good as ‘Empty Threat’, I listen to this and think “yeah, it’s okay, I guess”.

Tim: Now that’s interesting, because I saw this and almost had the opposite idea: I’m fairly sure my attitude and enjoyment of this actually improved knowing it was them. Admittedly, I’ve heard the song many times previously, so it was already well woven into my brain, but still.

To be honest, now we’re approaching the end of October, I feel confident in saying that Love Is Dead is probably going to be my favourite album of the year (and yes, I’m taking into account Cher’s ABBA album). It’s just that good, and if you’ve not listened to it yet you’re only letting yourself down.

Tom: Yeah, it’s okay, I guess.

CHVRCHES – Miracle

“Talk about saving the best for last.”

Tim: I know the album Love Is Dead has been out a couple of months now, but we’ve yet to cover this, the final single released from it, and I just can’t let that stand. Because boy, talk about saving the best for last.

Tim: I’ll be honest, with no hyperbole: there isn’t a single note in here that I would change. It helps that it’s a genre I love, obviously, but this song is just outstanding. The progression from verse, to pre-chorus, to chorus, to post-chorus is absolutely spot on, and oh my days what a post-chorus that is. The middle eight is exactly what it should be, and the closing section, with it’s combination of sung chorus and phenomenal post-chorus, is absolutely perfect.

Tom: So I’m going to take a different tack here, and talk about the video. Because, after you’ve watched it, go back and set it to double speed — and watch it in real-time. The footage was slowed down about 50% for that, and I have no idea how on earth the singer kept her composure, and her timing, with everything going on around her.

Tim: Huh. Oh, that really is quite a thing, with her presumably singing at double speed while it was being filmed.

Tom: This was filmed in a few long takes, and it’s directorial genius.

Tim: Directorial, and indeed musical. So, then, some advice for you – no, actually, an instruction: if you’ve not listened to Love Is Dead, do it now. Bin off whatever you’re doing, take 49 minutes (though tbh more likely 98), and enjoy the best album released so far this year. It is quite simply stunning, and you’ll thank me afterwards.

CHVRCHES – Never Say Die

“THIS IS HOW TO DO IT, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.”

Tim: If you were hoping for a break from the female-fronted electro pop theme that this week has seemingly developed, I’ve got bad news for you, because here’s the Queen of Scots herself to defend her throne.

Tim: Oh, and boy oh boy can she defend her throne.

Tom: THIS IS HOW TO DO IT, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

Tim: Blimey, that’s a reaction.

Tom: Now the question is, am I saying that because I like CHVRCHES’s sound already, or because this is a good track on its own merits? I’d like to think it’s the second, because that synth that leads into the chorus comes out of nowhere, and it doesn’t sound like them, and yet I still went “oh, that’s good”.

Tim: I have very similar views to that: true, it doesn’t sound like their typical track, as it’s a lot bassier than previously, but damn is this good. Normally I hate a fade out ending, as should most sensible people, but I can forgive it slightly when it’s an instrumental fade out and the instrumental is this good. Also, like you, I fully accept that if this weren’t by CHVRCHES but instead by some other band, I might not have this much enthusiasm for it, or be as willing to forgive that, and that by extension I may technically be falling into the trap that the Norwegians fell into when they chose Alexander Rybak to represent them at Eurovision with an atrocious song.

Tom: I still think that’s going to win.

Tim: Ugh, please no. What I might think of the song if it weren’t by CHVRCHES is slightly irrelevant, mind, because this is by CHVRCHES, and I bloody love it, and NOTHING you say will stop me. So there.

CHVRCHES – Get Out

“I am very much hopeful for this.”

Tim: Scotland’s finest purveyors of pop music are BACK, presumably with an upcoming third album, and here’s the track to lead the campaign.

Tom: It took me a while to get into them, but yes: I am very much hopeful for this.

Tim: OOF, what a track that is. It’s a fairly simple hook for the chorus, but boy is it infectious. Infectious, loud, and just great. I’ll admit I don’t really get the kaleidoscope metaphor, but the whole GET OUT GET OUT, GET GET GET OUT, GET GET GET OUT OF HERE doesn’t leave much room for ambiguity.

Tom: I’d normally dislike a chorus that repetitive — I’ve said before that if you’re going to build your entire chorus around one or two lines, then they’d better be absolutely perfect. These are.

Tim: And the song really, really sells it, right from the downbeat opening, all the way through to the slightly hopeful but still fairly definite middle eight.

Tom: I’ll admit to being a bit tired and emotional, in the literal sense, at the moment, so perhaps I’m more easily affected by songs like this, but: THIS IS VERY GOOD.

Tim: The music, as we have come to expect from the band, is right up there with the best, and I’ve listened to this four times in a row now and am perfectly happy to keep doing so.

Tom: And that video is a masterclass in telling multiple, ambiguous, possibly-connected stories: it’s just lovely.

Tim: Top stuff.

CHVRCHES – Call It Off

“There are some absolutely beautiful parts in here.”

Tim: This got sent in anonymously, and might need a bit of back story: ten years ago, Tegan & Sara released The Con, their first album to go big, and now want to celebrate that. As such, they’re putting it out again, but this time with other artists recording the tracks. Lengthy blog post here, example here:

Tim: It’s very, very different from the original, which was less than half the length and a completely different genre. This is…I want to say interesting, but I’m also aware that there’s an argument to be made for dull as well.

Tom: The two aren’t mutually exclusive. There are some absolutely beautiful parts in here: that steady build out of the middle eight into the final section is genuinely uplifting. It’s somewhat out of our remit, really; there’s an argument that this isn’t pop music at all.

Tim: It sounds like it would go on a typical CHVRCHES album, not as a song that would ever be released as a single, but as a nice closing track to round the album off with. For that, I quite like it (not least because it is the closing track on the album). Really don’t get the abrupt ending, though.

CHVRCHES – Bury It (Keys N Krates Remix)

“Eurgh.”

Tom: Our reader, going by the name “RedBassett”, sends in this remix. He describes it as “a very clean blend of the original music and the additions”.

Tim: Eurgh.

Tom: I describe it as “bloody awful”.

Tim: Yeah. I didn’t have a hugely negative reaction at first, but then I realised I hadn’t actually heard the original; I did, and then realised that every single redeeming feature came from that.

Tom: Sorry to our reader, but sometimes I have to call ’em like I hear ’em, and in this case what I hear is (not one of the better) CHVRCHES songs being mangled by what seems like an incompetent automatic remix generator. I handed up doing something I haven’t done to a song in a while: skipping forward a couple of minutes to see if it got any better. It didn’t.

Tim: No – if anything, it’s worse, with those additions at the end just being really rather dull. Bleh.

CHVRCHES – Empty Threat

“Oh, oh, that video is lovely.”

Tim: Weird how chart success works, isn’t it? Take this lot – both albums have gone straight into the top 10, but they’ve only ever had one actual single in the top 40, which got to the stunning heights of 38.

Tom: There are many paths to the charts, now – and Music Fans do still like their albums.

Tim: Anyway, here’s their latest release.

Tom: Oh, oh, that video is lovely. I know I’m a sucker for that sort of bleached-out, retro Americana style of shot, but that’s just a wonderful video.

Tim: And whoever said goths couldn’t hang out and have fun at a water park? This is a really rather enjoyable track, I’d say, and is very much one of the best songs on the album, so God knows why they’ve left it for the fourth single from it – it’s considerably better than any least two of the previous three. It’s got a catchy chorus, it’s got that great sound and production that we love from them, and unlike the lead single we looked at in August, it doesn’t leave me with any sense of dissatisfaction. Very well done, back on form.

Tom: And unusally for one of their singles, I can actually remember some of the melody after listening to it. Yeah, I’ll go with that — if I’m in the mood for something like this, I suspect I wouldn’t find much better.

Tim: Success prediction? Well, it’s been on the Radio 1 playlist for a few weeks now, so maybe it’ll do better – though given that the album’s been out for three months already (got to number 4) and none of the first three tracks individually broke the top 100 singles, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Tom: But like you said at the start: that’s not always how you measure success these days.

CHVRCHES – Never Ending Circles

“It’s nice to see that they still have it”

Tim: In case you’d forgotten that these guys were Scottish, here’s their new single to remind you.

Tom: Bagpipes? Are there bagpipes?

Tim: Ah. I, er, I feel I may have got your hopes up just a little too high.

Tim: Ain’t it good? Standard fare from them, really, but it’s nice to see that they still have it for their upcoming second album. Though now I write that, it really is just that: standard.

Tom: On a second album, that’s fair: you’d expect a refined, tweaked, but ultimately similar sound. If they’d decided to change it up massively, it’d be interesting to see how the fans would react.

Tim: True, and I’m definitely not asking for massively – it’s just that I’m listening to that, but I might as well be listening to Recover or The Mother We Share or any of their others. That’s not a bad thing, particularly, as they’re good tracks, but maybe I’d like something a bit different from a new album? I don’t know, it’s good, and I’ll take it, but I’d like a bit of variation maybe in the future please THANKS.

Eric Prydz vs CHVRCHES – Tether

“Well, this is going to be good.”

Tom: Eric Prydz, remixer extraordinaire; CHVRCHES, badly-capitalised Scottish electronica. I saw the two names on this, and almost immediately thought “well, this is going to be good”.

Tim: Likewise – YES PLEASE.

Tom: And happily, E-Prydz —

Tim: What.

Tom: I don’t know why I called him that. Anyway, he’s posted three minutes of it to SoundCloud as a preview. Advance warning: this is about 2:30 of build and then it gets cut off just after the drop: adjust your expectations accordingly.

Tim: ​With expectations duly adjusted, that’s a very good 2:30 of build, though I’m not sure it is all build – there’s enough variety in there for it to be a decent track as it is.

Tom: Presumably there’ll be a radio-friendly edit of about three minutes total soon, which I’m Properly Excited for.

Tim: Yes – if this is just the preview elements, I can’t wait to see what the rest of it sounds like – presumably a lot more vocal, for one thing.

Tom: But in summary: that’s two very good acts working together to make something that reflects well on both of them. With Eric Picklez —

Tim: Seriously?

Tom: — at the helm, it was never going to be an astonishingly inventive remix: it was going to be, as I’ve said before, by-the-numbers but with very good numbers. When you’ve got a good formula, sometimes it’s best not to mess with it.

Tim: ​​Tommy Sizzle, you’re not wrong there. Bring on the rest of it.