ChvrchesScotland's Chvrches have returned from the Glaswegian darkness with the cheerily titled Love Is Dead.
As songwriters and synth-pop producers, Chvrches have always smartly straddled the lines between mainstream appeal and alternative curiosity. The same trend continues on Love Is Dead, with a greater sense of lyrical focus from leading lady Lauren Mayberry.
Opening up the album is Graffiti, a great song with a vocal melody that dips and soars like a love letter to karaoke bars around the world. My Enemy features oldmate from The National (Matt Berninger) showing up to lend his achy baritone to the verses in-between Mayberry's sweet choruses. II sees the trio experimenting with tiny instrumentals, with an ascending, minor-key progression that sounds like it was taken from the back of a blade runner's bad dream. Never Say Die bounces along with a uniquely pulsing, staccato rhythm to force its lyrics inside your head.
There's nothing here that's too different from Chvrches' two previous efforts, but mainstream charts and lifelong fans are unlikely to take issue with that. At times, Love Is Dead is the darkest the band has ever been while finally becoming as poppy as they've always wanted to be.
