Indie synth-pop is having a moment, to borrow a fashion phrase that needs a time-out. With London Grammar, and now Chvrches, the air around me is filling with catchy hooks and a smattering of Eighties influences that for once aren't punk related.
Chvrches, with all their super-catchy dance-around-all-day hooks, their deliberately low internet presence (less so now, but you have to know to find them) and a sneak-attack on the airwaves of glorious proportions, are the current faces of a not-so-new sound that's replacing moody guitars as the soundtrack of choice to peoples' teenage angst. Not so much of a teenager anymore, and not so full of hormonal angst, and Chvrches are still a part of my musical horizons. 'The Bones of What You Believe' is fun, it's happy in that happy-songs about heartbreak way, it's a welcome contrast to the pop-punk that the walks home in the cold dark autumn air has been calling for.
Self-produced and recorded in a basement, Chvrches are clearly doing what they want to be doing - this is their sound, and the whole image of the album is what they must have intended from the off-ing. In a time when so much is being said about the way that labels are trying to manipulate their artists to fit what they want to sell*, a new band taking their music into their own hands in such a way is refreshing and reassuring.
Glasgow is a music scene that I often forget about, until something like this blows up and makes me wish that it was easier to highjack other cities' hidden music scenes without having it all being so far away...
*see statements by Lorde, and the story of why Futures decided to leave their label and start their own
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