As you all know I am extremely new to pop music. This was one of the first non-Taylor Swift pop albums I’ve ever heard. I quite enjoyed it, but I put it down for a little bit back in February and recently picked it back up again. If I have limited knowledge of pop then my knowledge of synthpop, the niche these guys fall into, is obsolete. I can tell you one thing about synthpop: it is infectious. The electronic sound on the album is bombastic, it’s huge and only really hindered by the production, which is one of my least favorite aspects of the whole album. So take that huge sound, layer on the synths and get a pretty Scottish girl to sing over it all and you can nearly sell this sound to anyone. CHVRCHES is an accessible group. They establish their sound well on this debut and they accomplish what every group hopes to achieve on a debut: something to build on.

It comes as no surprise to me that this album is not perfect. No group manages to get all the elements right in their debut (I feel I’m going to come to contradict that statement in my future reviews haha). One thing CHVRCHES does extremely well on this debut is getting the balance with the songwriting right. They have songs that throwback to the synth infested daze that was the 1980’s, but they also have songs here that contrast those throwbacks and introduce new elements to their sound and progress the release. While the balance is there, the instrumental side of the songwriting is kinda hit or miss. I felt the instrumentals and samples they used on this album get kind of tiring and repetitive on tracks like Tether, Under the Tide, and You Caught the Light. However, I don’t mean to undermine how successful the instrumentals on this album are. Songs like Lungs, Science/Visions, and The Mother We Share are intense listens because of how well CHVRCHES crafted the instrumentals on them.

Some of the tracks here (like the one above) are fairly atmospheric pieces, but I wouldn’t call this a heavily atmospheric record. In fact, one of the things that holds this album from really reaching higher places is the production. No, it’s not stripped down and empty or overproduced, but it instead reaches a weird middle ground. I wanted the sound here to be fuller, but at times it comes off as rather flat. When I say the production is flat, it’s not like that for every song, but some tracks here would’ve benefited largely from a better production. Also, CHVRCHES manages to keep a distinctive tone throughout the whole album. Never does the group suffer largely from the production, it’s really something that they setup to improve later on. Now, the production does work well for what they’re doing on this album, but listening to the follow-up to this one, Every Open Eye from 2015, really does prove how large of a sound they can have if they really perfected their production values.

I’ve touched briefly on the instrumentals and the samples used on the album, but I want to talk now about the lyrics. One of the greatest things I can say about CHVRCHES is that their lyrics are phenomenal. The group must’ve spend a lot of time honing in on lyrics that matched the overall mood of the album. One of my favorite lines in the album is from one of the singles: We Sink,

“Bleed out, what the fuck were you thinking?

We are gonna fall if you lead us nowhere.

No wasted time.”

The album features denser lyrics to match the group’s sound, and I can really appreciate that aspect of CHVRCHES. These guys (and girl) put a lot of time into crafting their sound and lyrics, and in the end, this is a successful effort. Some of the other lyrical standouts from the album include: Gun, Lies, Recover, and By the Throat.

The performance from Lauren Mayberry on vocals is excellent. Her accent adds a unique touch to the music and I felt that her vocal prowess is the reason that this music captivates me so such. She adds a face to the music. The same can’t be said about the bland vocals from bandmate Martin Doherty who has lead vocals on Under the Tide and the boring finale You Caught the Light. Truth be told, I usually skip those two tracks because he doesn’t carry the same charm that Lauren Mayberry does on tracks like Gun.

The Verdict

A highly enjoyable debut album that flaunts a keen sense of songwriting and strong vocal delivery courtesy of Lauren Mayberry. If you like your pop music sounding like an army of synths marching you to your death, I would recommend both this album and the follow-up released in 2015. Great pacing, outstanding vocals (from Lauren), and an extremely mature sense of songwriting for a debut album.