Artist:Chvrches
Song:The Mother We Share
Album:Bones of What You Believe In: 10 Year Anniversary Special Edition
The Scottish synth pop band Chvrches have had success mostly in England. Their 2013 debut album Bones of What You Believe In is their biggest selling album and The Mother We Share is their biggest hit. But they have never scored a big hit and they are more of an album and touring band. Iain Cook and Martin Doherty met in 2003 as students at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Doherty was in the band Julia Thirteen and he asked Cook to produced their 2006 EP Tired Hearts. Julia Thirteen went nowhere but Doherty and Cook wanted to work together. Cook was in the band Aereogramme. Doherty joined the band but they soon split up in 2007.Doherty was in The Twilight Sad's touring band. But he got tired of playing someone else's music and left in 2012. He had planned to train as a history teacher. Then he reconnected with Cook and they decided to start their own band. Cook was interested in synth pop influenced by the band Emeralds. Then he produced a 2011 EP for the band Blue Sky Archives and he asked their lead singer and drummer Lauren Mayberry if she would be interested in adding vocals to their project. At first Doherty was supposed to be lead singer. But both guys liked Lauren's singing and she was made lead singer. The band is called Churches but was changed to Chvrches for copyright reasons and differentiate them from real churches. I think the name is confusing so I don't like it. At first, Chvurches had not planned to tour and were going to be a studio band. The 2013 song Lies was posted on the Neon Gold Records blog. It was accompanied by a picture of three masked nuns. But Lies was played on BBC Radio 1. They were surprised by the response. They realized that they would have to perform live to get a record deal. The problem was when record companies came to their shows, they were interested in Lauren and not the band because of her looks. Cook and Doherty should have anticipated that but that showed their naivety. They signed with the indie label Glassnote Records and released the 2013 album The Bones of What You Believe and the single The Mother We Share. The album was certified Gold in England and The Mother We Share is their highest charting single to date. The album was released on Virgin's Vertigo label in Europe. Chvrches write and produce everything. A 2CD tenth anniversary edition of The Bones of What You Believe was released in 2023. It is available on CD. Chvrches has released four albums, most recently in 2021. They signed a new record deal with Island Records in 2022. Meanwhile, Lauren released a 2024 solo album Vicious Creature on EMI Records. Chvrches should have a new album out sometime this year. Here's the video for The Mother We Share by Chvrches.
