Chvrches are a band that’s a bit hard to place. A Scottish trio that seemed begging for mainstream attention off the back of a great sophomore album ‘Every Open Eye’, that never seemed to truly materialise, and I have genuinely no idea why. They had the hooks, they had the glamorous pop crossover appeal, they had a great front women in the form of Lauren Mayberry, but for whatever reason, any attempt at pop crossover has been unsuccessful, including in the run up to this third studio album, 'Love Is Dead'.
My personal frustrations aside, I was expecting big things from this album, after all, 'Every Open Eye' was a great cohesive sugary slice of synth pop that never fails to amaze me every time. My concerns started to arise when the news came through that pop producer Greg Kurstin was hopping on board for this project, bringing with him his bad reputation for compromising melody in favour of stiff, programmed drum beats that may have a lot of momentum, if nothing beyond it. As such, my expectations were skewed going into 'Love Is Dead', but what did we get?
We got a measurable step back, that's for sure. Compared to 'Every Open Eye', this album is overlong, and both inconsistently produced and written. And, while I would love to just be able to blame Greg Kurstin for this and just move on, I can' tin good conscience do that. Nevertheless, numerous issues heavily compromise an album that had the potential to be great, but instead is merely decent. If that.
The production on this album is the first key issue. To sum it up in one word: exhausting. This album is tiring to get through and, unfortunately, that's more on the group themselves than Kurstin. The problem is, while a lot of these songs have plenty of melodic foundation, but not a lot rising above it. 'Miracle' is a good example. I don't mind the intense build up, but in the hook it breaks into this stiff, lumbering progression with hardly any driving melody outside of the vocal line which is covered in fuzzy vocal filters when it does not need to be. The fact that these production issues mostly turn up on songs the band themselves produced baffles me.
'My Enemy' is a tuneless, dreary bore of a track that features both Matt Berninger of The National and Lauren Mayberry on total autopilot white both of them sounding they'd rather be anywhere else. 'Wonderland' has some pretty instrumental moments on the verses, but, just like on 'Miracle' completely breaks down on the hook. But if there's a song that encapsulates everything I dislike about this album, it's 'God's Plan'. The kind of swampy track that is clearly trying to build up some intense swell, but without any consistent pulse or cohesive melody to pull it off. There is melody, but not where it needs to be in the mix to fully connect.
When some of the brighter melodic elements do shine through, we do get a few good songs. The production seems to get halfway there on the opening three songs, but 'Forever' is the first indication to me that something could have been salvaged from this album. While the purchasing is a tad too heavy, the hook and the high tempo the song has manages to work for me and I like the song. Similar reason why 'Graves', 'Heaven/Hell' and 'Never Say Die' mostly work for me too, despite the latter feeling a tad underwritten.
And that takes us nicely onto the lyrics and themes of this album, and in comparison to 'Every Open Eye', this is a mess. The breakup seems to happen on 'Get Out' and is framed as a mutual departure, 'good intentions never good enough', and on the rest of the album, Mayberry tries to make it work out again, and, surprising no one, the guy turns out to be a manipulative asshole and Mayberry is left alone on 'Really Gone' just as she was left alone on 'Afterglow' on 'Every Open Eye'. This is the same story told through a slightly different lens and very little else. Lines like 'ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies' from 'Miracle' don't frame Mayberry all that well and doesn't make the way she is handling the situation all that likeable.
However, there are elements of the thematic arc that do connect. The regretting of the post breakup madness on 'Forever', the desire to make something out of a bad situation that comes across on 'Never Say Die', and especially the song 'Heaven/Hell' as Mayberry isn't sure if the fact that this relationship is sputtering out is good or not, but she's just going to enjoy wallowing in its final moments anyway.
But overall, you'll be infinitely better off listening to 'Every Open Eye' and getting the same thematic arc told measurably better. Light 3 / 5 from me.
Overall Rating: 3 / 5
Best Songs: 'Heaven/Hell', 'Forever, 'Graves', 'Never Say Die'
Worst Songs: 'My Enemy', 'God's Plan'
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