CHVRCHES ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ Album Review: Excellent debut for Scottish electronic trio.

[rating=5]

CHVRCHES (pronounced churches) have had a strong musical ascent for a band who, up until now, haven’t made a full-length release. 2012 singles Lies and The Mother We Share were both shiny, melodic gems, as was 2013’s Recover. So one wondered what the hold up was on more material. Was their early success a fluke?

Hardly. New album ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ is a solid début that shows the band have no fear of becoming a flavor of the week.

What makes their sound so winning, is the clear bell-like vocals of Lauren Mayberry which nestle perfectly alongside glacial synths.

But don’t let the bubbly Erasure-like We Sink be mistaken for a feel good tune. Mayberry sings; what the f–k were you thinking…I’ll be a thorn in your side til you die. That spiky sentiment is almost incongruous to the blissful sonics, but wonderfully so.

Tether nods to M83 with its oceanic guitars and vocalized synths, but CHVRCHES are less meandering and more direct than the French outfit.

Science/Vision is all 80’s Tangerine Dream synth soundtrack nirvana, with Mayberry’s croon meshing perfectly with band mate Iain Cook’s disembodied, auto-tweaked vocals.

If there’s any fault to be found, and this is nitpicking, it’s that all the songs sound very uniform in structure and tone. An exception is closer You Caught The Light, a gorgeous down tempo affair with undulating Explosion In The Sky style guitars. Cook takes the reigns here, and while his voice doesn’t have the dynamic expression of Mayberry’s, it’s pleasant and unobtrusive.

The Bones Of What You Believe show a musical skeleton made of sturdy stuff. CHVRCHES have crafted a strong foundation that signal a long musical life ahead of them.

Want to own CHVRCHES  ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’  on Amazon or iTunes? Order via the links below. The album will be officially released September 24th. And you can preview it free on NPR up until its release.