Screen Violence is the fourth studio album by Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches. Conceived after their previous album Love Is Dead, production began in early 2020 before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, but continued remotely once it began. Thematically based around horror, the album is tonally darker and more narrative-based than the band's previous work, with songs drawing on the band's personal experiences, including disillusionment and societal expectations of womanhood.
The album was preceded by three singles: "He Said She Said", "How Not To Drown", and "Good Girls", the second of which incorporates vocals from the Cure frontman Robert Smith. It was released on 27 August 2021 through EMI Records in the UK and Glassnote Records in the US. It received largely positive reviews from critics, who commended its composition and lyrical themes. The single "How Not To Drown" was recognised at the NME Awards 2022 the following year.
Background
For their previous album, Love Is Dead, Chvrches worked with external producers such as Greg Kurstin and oriented their sound closer to pop music.[1] With the band's growing popularity, frontwoman Lauren Mayberry received increased scrutiny and attention, and death threats and abusive messages, which increased the pressure on her and the band.[2][3] After collaborating with Marshmello on "Here with Me", the band criticised him working with Chris Brown and Tyga due to sexual abuse allegations; Brown responded by stating he wished that the band was hit by a "speeding bus full of mental patients". Meanwhile, songwriter and instrument player Martin Doherty was struggling with depression, being secluded while on tour for Love Is Dead. These events partially influenced the ultimate direction of Screen Violence.[4][5]
Recording
The title Screen Violence came from an discarded name for the band, and was initially floated as a new album concept in 2019, inspired by the theme of violence "on screen, by screens and through screens".[3] Production began in 2020 shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the majority of songwriting was accomplished during this time.[3][6] As the pandemic began, the album was continued remotely, with collaboration being done via programs such as Zoom; Doherty noted that the album's name became "a bit more literal" with its onset, with the band feeling "like half of our lives were lived through screens."[7][3]
To match with the theme of the album, Mayberry focused on visual instead of sonic references to define the album's tone.[4] Doherty stated that the lack of touring allowed more experimentation with sounds and techniques.[6] The album was recorded between Glasgow and Los Angeles; unlike Love Is Dead, the band produced it themselves.[8][1]
The single "How Not to Drown" evolved from a piano and drum demo recorded by Doherty and was written during a time when he was dealing with "crippling depression and anxiety".[9] It features vocals by the Cure frontman Robert Smith, who was approached by the band's manager, despite Doherty considering it implausible Smith would get in touch. Once Smith approached the band, they sent the track and he sent back his vocal performance.[10][11]
Composition and themes
Like Chvrches' previous work, Screen Violence is a synth-pop album, though it is tonally darker than the band's past albums.[12][13] Experimentation during the pandemic lead Doherty to incorporate more guitar elements.[14] It has been described as having a horror theme,[15][16] with the band being influenced by the video nasty genre of horror film.[3] In an interview for the album, Mayberry noted that women were not often centred in these movies.[4]
The band described the album's songs as "addressing feelings of loneliness, disillusionment and fear, among other emotions";[7] they listened to the Cure, Depeche Mode, and Brian Eno to inspire its sound.[17] Mayberry stated she intended to take a "different" lyrical direction from Chvrches' earlier work, abandoning the "parameters [she] would normally put in place" in favour of more narrative-based lyrics, and citing Nick Cave and Jenny Lewis as inspiration.[3][2]
Mayberry said it felt "freeing initially" for it to start out as a more abstract and "escapist" concept, but the lyrics ended up being "definitely still personal",[18] with Mayberry describing them as being about "the things we experienced that feel like horror".[2] "He Said She Said" and "Good Girls" comment on expectations around womanhood.[1][12][16] "Final Girl" also explores similar issues, being a reference to the horror trope of the same name.[19] The lyrics of "How Not to Drown" are about being "disillusioned about music and the industry", reflecting a time when Mayberry was considering leaving the band.[10][11] The album also incorporates more direct horror references; "Violent Delights" references A Nightmare on Elm Street.[2]
Release and promotion
Lead single "He Said She Said" was released on 19 April 2021.[20] The album was announced on June 2 alongside the second single, "How Not to Drown", in collaboration with Robert Smith.[7] The third single, "Good Girls", was released on July 12.[21] In early August, horror filmmaker and composer John Carpenter released a remix of "Good Girls", with Chvrches releasing a remix of his track "Turning the Bones" in exchange.[22]
The music videos for all three singles were made in collaboration with visual artist Scott Kiernan, who the band found through a Moog advertisement; Kiernan also took a role as creative director for Screen Violence.[23][24][25]
The album was released on 27 August 2021 through EMI Records in the UK and Glassnote Records in the US.[25][18] On October 29, the band released a "director's cut" edition, containing three additional songs.[26] The album was promoted with a North American tour from November to December 2021.[27][28] The next year, they collaborated on a guitar pedal named after the album with Old Blood Noise Endeavors.[29]
The ratings aggregation website Metacritic described Screen Violence as having "universal acclaim", holding a score of 81/100 based on a weighted average of critical reviews.[30]
The composition was largely praised by reviewers. Katherine St. Asaph of Pitchfork praised the variety of sonic influences of the album.[15]Exclaim! reviewer Paul Blinov called the album's sound "lively and responsive to the mood", considering it more sonically ambitious than their previous work.[32] Contrastingly, The Line of Best Fit writer Marie Oleinik perceived it as sometimes bereft of "imagination and sonic diversity", stating that she failed to distinguish some tracks even after repeat listening.[33] Grant Sharples of Paste considered the album to be too similar to the band's past material, and its later portion as being made up of "forgettable material".[34] Whilst Olienik considered Robert Smith's vocals poorly incorporated in "How Not to Drown", Blinov considered it "excellent goth-pop", and AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares described it as "gloomy enough to honor the legacies of everyone involved".[33][32][1]
The album's thematic content was also widely commended, being described as "more mature" than Chvrches' previous work by The A.V. Club writer Alex McLevy.[31]Slant reviewer Eric Mason felt that the album "lives up to its title’s promise of anguish and suspicion of the Hollywood machine", considering it a return to form after Love Is Dead.[16] Phares described it as the band's most purposeful record to date,[1] and PopMatters praised the feminist themes in the lyrics, describing "Good Girls" as a "righteous rebuke of hypocrisy".[12]
The album lead Consequence to name Chvrches their 2021 Band of the Year.[35] Robert Smith and Chvrches won the Best Song By A UK Artist award for "How Not to Drown" at the NME Awards 2022.[36]
↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 35.Týden 2021 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
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