Scottish band, Chvrches, made their way to the US with their new, indie rock musical talent. They’re a trio with vocalist Lauren Mayberry and keyboard/vocalists Iain Cook and Martin Doherty.
The three did not grow up together or have a long history connection like most bands these days. Mayberry played with the band, Blue Sky Archives. She also holds a law degree and has a masters in journalism. Cook was a member of the Aerogramme band and was a film and television music composer, while Doherty was a member of the Twilight Sad band. Cook and Doherty asked Mayberry to sing on some demos they were working on and ended up enjoying the session. The three decided to make a trio with writing their own songs.
Chvrches has had great success considering they produced their album themselves which was recorded in Glasgow, Scotland UK. In just twelve months, they have released two singles which are on their debut album The Bones of What You Believe that was released September 20, 2013. This album reached top ten on iTunes. “Lies” was their first single released not too long before their second single, “The Mother We Share,” that was released October 2, 2012. “Lies” made it to the top 5 on the BBC Sound of 2013, and “The MotherWe Share” made it as a top ten track on the Alternate Radio and was rated the most played song in 2012 on Sirus’s XMU.
Chvrches obviously shows a unique name. Naming the band was made in a crunch time, as band member Martin Doherty said.
“We tried, and tried, and tried. We couldn’t agree on anything, which was unusual, because the music was coming about really well and really easily, we just couldn’t figure out a name,” Doherty said. “We just chose it because it was big and bold, and just one word. And it wasn’t difficult to pronounce.”
Keep in mind, the starting spelling of the name was ‘Churches.’ After their first release of “Lies” they realized it conflicted with google searches. “Try searching for “churches” and “live”, it takes it to a whole new dark level,” Doherty jokes about.
Their artwork designer had already decided the logo with the “V” in it, and they liked it and just went with it.
The band is known as Scottish electronic trio, which honestly is not my type of music. Lauren Mayberry does have a soft, soothing voice, but at the same time it doesn’t have enough range for me. Her high-pitched voice tends to stay in one pitch most of the time which becomes boring by the middle of the song. Another aspect that makes me lose interest is how similar the songs sound. “Lies,” “The Mother We Share,” and “Recover” are just three of their songs that all seem to sound too much alike. The music in general plays along the same beat and the consistent range in pitch never changes. In their music videos, I’ve also noticed a pattern of a dark scenery. It’s very electronically and definitely not what might be seen in more popular music videos. This isn’t technically a bad thing, but when the same idea is in every video, it starts to get old.
My opinion doesn’t mean the band hasn’t had success. They’re first overwhelming fan reactions and across the world traveling is all because of the success they have already created. The new trio isn’t my typical music to listen too, but there are others who think different. Check out Chvrches and keep up with their career that’s getting a positive reaction from around the world.
