• News

• All

Jul 16, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Scottish electro-pop trio CHVRCHES are releasing a new album, Screen Violence, on August 27 via Glassnote. Earlier this week they shared its third single, “Good Girls.” Now they have shared a video for the song. Scott Kiernan directed the video, as he did for the album’s other videos. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Kiernan had this to say in a press release: “The video for ‘He Said She Said’ dealt with doubt in making of one’s own image while under the manipulation of another; while ‘How Not to Drown’ sought an exit from a low, from feeling penned in by larger power structures, and refusing to succumb to them again. But ‘Good Girls’ portrays a certain learned confidence in knowing who and what you are, despite what others might conform to themselves. It’s having a clear vision, or something like a compound eye that can see at all angles.

“Of course, this is the BLUE in the RGB of the video trio, like the colors that form a video image and rotate in a projector’s color wheel. And similarly, the revolving door metaphor that runs throughout the videos generates many open positions—possible developments to follow from the initial darkroom, which circle their way back again.

“So, like ‘How Not to Drown’ before it, ‘Good Girls’ continues down from a scene in the first video and steers it to a new parallel conclusion. Near the end, we find Lauren spiraling on the studio floor, surrounded by the crew and ghosts of the previous videos, as the entire image cycle finally comes to a halt.”

“Good Girls” was the second song the band wrote for Screen Violence. A previous press release said frontwoman Lauren Mayberry’s lyrics are about “the misogynistic ideals inflicted upon women.” In the chorus Mayberry sings: “Good girls don’t cry / And good girls don’t lie / And good girls justify but I don’t / Good girls don’t die / And good girls stay alive / And good girls satisfy but I won’t.”

Mayberry had this to say about the song in the previous press release: “The opening line (killing your idols is a chore) was something I wrote after listening to some friends arguing about the present day implications of loving certain problematic male artists—I was struck by the lengths that people would go to in order to excuse their heroes and how that was so juxtaposed to my own experiences in the world. Women have to constantly justify their right to exist and negotiate for their own space. We’re told that Bad Things don’t happen to Good Girls. That if you curate yourself to fit the ideal—keep yourself small and safe and acceptable—you will be alright, and it’s just not fucking true.”

Screen Violence includes “He Said She Said,” a new song CHVRCHES shared in April that was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared a video for the song that featured a metaphorical revolving door. When the album was announced in early June they shared another new song from it, “How Not to Drown,” which features Robert Smith of The Cure. Then they shared a video for “How Not to Drown.” “How Not to Drown” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared a remix of “How Not to Drown” by Robert Smith.

Screen Violence is the band’s fourth album and the follow-up to 2018’s Love Is Dead. Screen Violence was actually an early name for the band.

The album was recorded remotely during the pandemic, with Mayberry and Martin Doherty in Los Angeles and Iain Cook in Glasgow. The band self-produced the album.

“I think for me it was helpful to go into the process with the idea that I could write something escapist almost,” Mayberry said of the album in a previous press release. “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.”

Doherty added: “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.”

The press release also described the album as such: “Narrating the theme of screen violence in three main forms—on screen, by screens and through screens—the album touches on feelings of loneliness, disillusionment, fear, heartbreak and regret.”

CHVRCHES were on the cover of one of our print issues in 2015 and you can read the in-depth 8-page 5,600-word cover story feature on the band here. You can also read our bonus digital magazine Q&A with them here.

CHVRCHES U.S. Tour Dates:

11/09/21 Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall
11/10 - 11/12/21 Austin, TX - ACL Live
11/14/21 Dallas, TX - South Side Ballroom
11/15/21 Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom
11/17/21 Minneapolis, MN - Armory
11/18/21 Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside Theater
11/19/21 Chicago, IL - Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
11/20/21 Columbus, OH - Express Live!
11/22/21 Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE
11/23/21 Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
11/24/21 Toronto, ON - History
11/26/21 New York, NY - Terminal 5
11/27/21 New York, NY - Terminal 5
11/30/21 Washington, DC - Anthem
12/01/21 Boston, MA - House of Blues
12/02/21 New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall
12/03/21 Philadelphia, PA - Franklin Music Hall
12/05/21 Cincinnati, OH - Ovation
12/06/21 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
12/08/21 Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom
12/09/21 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater
12/10/21 Salt Lake City, UT - Union
12/11/21 Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl
12/13/21 San Diego, CA - Observatory North Park
12/14/21 San Diego, CA - Observatory North Park
12/16/21 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
12/17/21 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium
12/18/21 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Palladium

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.