We’re in the midst of a small renaissance in Scottish music. In the last five years, a league of young bands from Scotland — namely, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad — have been accumulating fame and touring internationally while making earnest, expertly manicured Indie Pop about love and heartbreak in a young-person-friendly way.
Chvrches is part of that alliance, too, albeit a late addition. Releasing its debut album, The Bones of What You Believe, to great praise and chart success last year, the Glasgow band has quickly risen to become the most prominent of these Scottish groups.
Chvrches’ story goes back to late 2011 when vocalist Lauren Mayberry was recording with her old Indie Rock band Blue Sky Archives in a studio belonging to guitarist/synth player Iain Cook. Cook told Mayberry that he and synth player/vocalist Martin Doherty were launching a new Electronic group in the wake of Aerogramme, that duo’s recently broken up band, and asked her to contribute. Chvrches’ work would soon attract interest online, and the band performed its first show in summer 2012.
This is the kind of band whose appeal is clear from first blush, with its crisp, sleek synths, go-for-broke choruses and Mayberry’s unassumingly powerful vocals making an addictive combo. Mayberry has named Kate Bush, Cocteau Twins and Whitney Houston among her influences.
All of those performers are linked to the 1980s, a fitting match considering Chvrches’ ’80s-friendly sound. Though the band’s image is generally straight-faced, it has a playful side too, as evidenced by its recent covers of Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” Janelle Monáe’s “Tightrope” and, most imaginatively, the Game of Thrones theme.
CHVRCHES plays at Madison Theater Monday, Sept. 29. Find tickets/more info
here .
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2014.