Chvrches announce new album and release song with the Cure's Robert Smith

Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches have announced their fourth studio album, Screen Violence, out August 27th via Glassnote Records. The announcement comes with the release of a new single featuring the Cure’s Robert Smith, one of the trio's ultimate heroes. The new track is called “How Not to Drown,” and marks Chvrches’ second single of the year, following April’s “He Said She Said.” The Cure frontman’s signature voice melds perfectly with Mayberry’s, both supported by the dark, piano driven song that is based on the concept of staying conscious when you drown.

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' last album, Love Is Dead, was released in 2018.

Tracklist Screen Violence

01 Asking for a Friend

02 He Said She Said

03 California

04 Violent Delights

05 How Not to Drown (with Robert Smith)

06 Final Girl

07 Good Girls

08 Lullabies

09 Nightmares

10 Better If You Don’t