Stream: CHVRCHES, ‘How Not to Drown’ (feat. Robert Smith)

Kevin Bronson on June 2nd, 2021

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CHVRCHES (Photo by Sebastian Mlynarski & Kevin J Thomson)

The pandemic is one heck of a time to get with one of your heroes, but that’s when it happened for Scottish trio CHVRCHES. The band’s new single “How Not to Drown” features the Cure’s Robert Smith.

The song introduces the band’s fourth album, “Screen Violence,” arriving Aug. 27. It was made almot completely remotely between Glasgow and Los Angeles, with band members Lauren Mayberry, Martin Doherty and Iain Cook self-producing and mixing the album via video calls and audio-sharing programs.

A decade into their existence as a band, CHVRCHES have made a document they say touches on violence in three forms — on screen, by screens and through screens.

“I think for me it was helpful to go into the process with the idea that I could write something escapist almost,” Mayberry says. “That felt freeing initially, to have concepts and stories to weave your own feelings and experiences through but in the end, all the lyrics were definitely still personal.” While Martin Doherty adds, “To me, the screen aspect was a bit more literal. When we were making the record, it was like half of our lives were lived through screens. What began as a concept was now a lifeline.”

CHVRCHES also announced a tour that winds up at the Palladium in mid-December.

||| Stream: “How Not to Drown”