Chvrches: Screen Violence Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

This pressing comes with a download code for WAV files. Robert Smith of The Cure joins the band on "How Not To Drown," which was recognised at the NME Awards 2022, and "He Said She Said" and "Good Girls" are two of their sharpest singles.

This edition

Download card included

About the album

Every good horror film needs a soundtrack, and Lauren Mayberry did her homework, watching a pile of scary movies before the Glasgow trio sat down to write. The title came from a band name they had thrown away years earlier, and once the pandemic moved everything onto Zoom, a record about life lived through screens became rather more literal than planned.

This time Chvrches produced it themselves, recording between Glasgow and Los Angeles, and Martin Doherty brought more guitar into the synths. "How Not To Drown" grew from his piano and drum demo, and the band's manager reached out to Robert Smith; to Doherty's surprise, Smith sent back a full vocal. "He Said She Said" turns pressure into a pulsing chorus, "California" shimmers, and "Asking For A Friend" opens the album in widescreen. "Good Girls" and "Final Girl" lean right into the slasher-film theme.

Critics heard the band's most personal and narrative writing yet, built from Mayberry's and Doherty's own experiences. It's synth-pop with the lights off, which is the correct way to watch a horror film and, it turns out, to hear a Chvrches record.

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