Chvrches Announce New Album, Release Song With Robert Smith

Chvrches have announced their fourth studio album, Screen Violence, out August 27th via Glassnote Records. On Wednesday, the band also shared a new single from the LP, “How Not to Drown,” featuring Robert Smith of the Cure.

Recorded remotely between Glasgow and Los Angeles during the pandemic, Screen Violence derives its title from one of the band’s early proposed names before they settled on Chvrches. A decade later, the band decided to revive the name in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown, where many relationships were tethered together over the computer amid a global crisis.

“I think for me it was helpful to go into the process with the idea that I could write something escapist almost,” lead singer Lauren Mayberry says of the album. “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.”

Band instrumentalist 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 previously released the Screen Violence single “He Said She Said.” Their last album, Love Is Dead, was released in 2018.