Chvrches achieved maximum likability with "The Mother We Share", and you can prove it with the following: "likable" became the desperate, last line of defense for people trying to find reasons to dislike it. They'd have a point if Chvrches were really trying to be an indie rock band, but the Scottish trio are done with that part of their lives; two of the members did stints in miserablist post-rock bands while Lauren Mayberry has the double indignity of a law degree and a failed career in music journalism. After years of trying to appeal to various groups of stock-still, grimacing dudes, Chvrches crowd-please with equal and opposite force with a single so brilliant and on-target, they put a damn neon bullseye on the album cover.

The original version was good, the one on The Bones of What You Believe was a charm offensive, an already-sharp song given diamond-cutting production. So there's nothing "edgy" about the lazer-guided melodies, bombastic synth-drums, and heat-seeking timeliness: it's ca. 2013 electro-pop performed like rock, while Mayberry's sisterly cadence turns her vague lyrics into something familiar and comforting, dropping an f-bomb in the perfect place, so you could fool yourself into thinking this was indie rock rather than pop made by former indie rockers. As we speak, major labels are blowing a lot of money in search of bands who can sound anything like this and Chvrches nailed it on the first try in their basement. If you have to dislike "The Mother We Share" for any reason, make it that. —Ian Cohen