CHVRCHES 1,302

CHVRCHES is a synthpop trio that formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 2011. The founding members are Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty.

Although the band’s name is pronounced “Churches”, it is written as “CHVRCHES” (sometimes styled as “CHVRCHΞS”). In an interview with Newsweek in 2013, the band explained that the main purpose of the spelling difference was to make it easier for people to search for them on the Web:

We had to find a name before we could put music online! There was no conscious choice to have something with religious connotations because that’s not the way any of us are leaning, but just to have a strong vibe that could be interpreted in many different ways. And the “V” is there just so people could find us on search engines, as well as a strong visual thing. I didn’t think it would be so confusing for people to pronounce it.

On 11 May 2012, CHVRCHES debuted their first single, “Lies”, on the Neon Gold Records blog. “There wasn’t really any goal other than to put a song out on the Internet and see what kind of response we got,” Martin Doherty said.

People loved the single, and the band became determined to get into the spotlight. They released a second single, “The Mother We Share”, on 5 November 2012, and soon signed with Glassnote. Less than two months later, they won the Grulke Prize for best non-American act.

On 20 September 2013, the band released their first studio album, The Bones of What You Believe, through Virgin Records, and it was widely praised. They recorded their second studio album, Every Open Eye (2015), with upgraded music equipment, resulting in a few changes to their sound. Their third studio album, Love Is Dead (2018), brought in elements of indie rock.

In 2019, the band released “[Here With Me]”(/Marshmello-here-with-me-lyrics)“, with American EDM producer Marshmello.

On 27 August 2021, the trio released their most recent album, Screen Violence, and went on tour once the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down. Screen Violence focuses on horror movie tropes, with Mayberry often portraying the archetypal “Final Girl” during performances.