It’s been written several times over the course of music history that an artist’s most important album is their current one, since it has the potential to make or break their career depending on the commercial and fan reaction to their product. In a lot of ways, a band usually makes their next album as a reaction to the one that came before it, and that rings very true on Screen Violence. CHVRCHES released their third record, Love is Dead, to a mixed bag of reviews with some reviewers claiming it was a step back from their early magic found. I personally didn’t see Love Is Dead as a step back, but after hearing the major step forward on Screen Violence, I can at least see where some of those reviewers were coming from. Screen Violence is a direct reaction to society’s obsession with others reactions to social media posts, how the media portrays major news events, as well as keeping our own mental health balanced through all of the distractions that exist in our world. With so much “noise” in today’s world, it was only a matter of time before this band made one of their boldest artistic statements to date on their fourth full-length record that shatters even the highest of expectations for where they could take their sound.

For Chvrches’ third album, Love is Dead, they turned to veteran producer Greg Kurstin (Tegan & Sara, Foo Fighters) to help them craft their most memorable effort to date. Since forming in 2011, the synth-pop group has taken over the indie music scene with multiple prominent festival appearances and two well-received albums. Their fanbase was incredibly eager to hear what Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty had cooked up for the next chapter in their story.

On Love is Dead, Chvrches have accomplished the rare feat of staying true to their original sound, while still adding even more nuance and creativity into this final product. In an era where artists get blamed for either not changing enough from album to album, or for changing too much, Chvrches have found the perfect balance of experimenting with new sounds and song structures, while still staying honest to who they are as a band.

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