The members consist of Lauren Mayberry (lead vocals, additional synthesizers), Iain Cook (synthesizers, guitar, bass, additional vocals) and Martin Doherty (synthesizers, samplers, additional vocals, and occasional lead vocals).
CHVRCHES discography
- Recover EP (2013)
- Gun EP (2013)
- EP (2013; Japan only)
- The Bones of What You Believe (2013)Singles: "Lies" (2012; 2013 [re-recorded version]), "The Mother We Share" (2012), "Recover" (2013), "Gun" (2013), "We Sink" (2014), "Under the Tide" (2014)
- "Dead Air" (2014, for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1)
- "Get Away" (2014)
- Every Open Eye (2015)Singles: "Leave a Trace" (2015), "Never Ending Circles" (2015), "Clearest Blue" (2015), "Empty Threat" (2015)
- "Warning Call" (2016, for Mirror's Edge: Catalyst)
- Love Is Dead (2018)Singles: "Get Out" (2018), "My Enemy" (2018), "Miracle" (2018)
- "Death Stranding" (2019, for Death Stranding: Timefall)
- Screen Violence (to be released August 2021)Singles: "He Said She Said" (2021), "How Not To Drown" (feat. Robert Smith, 2021)
"The Tropes We Share"
- A Day in the Limelight/Step Up to the Microphone: Martin Doherty performs on "ZVVL", "Under the Tide" and "You Caught the Light".
- On Every Open Eye, he is the lead singer on "High Enough to Carry You Over". It's Sophisti-Pop style fits his voice extremely well. He also sings lead on "Follow You", a bonus song that was later included in the Extended Edition.
- Love is Dead features his vocal stylings on "God's Plan", with Lauren singing backup.
- Album Closure: "Broken Bones," the last track (and closest thing to a Title Track) on The Bones of What You Believe, is an ominous, dystopian-sounding story song distinct from the upbeat Synth-Pop of the rest of the album.
- Album Title Drop: A semi-example; the title's dropped in the bonus track "Strong Hand," rather than the album proper. "Give me the bones of what you believe / Maybe they'll save you from me..."
- "Clearest Blue" drops Every Open Eye, although it comes nearly again in a mention of "Open your eyes" in "High Enough to Carry You Over".
- Alternative Dance
- Animated Music Video:
- "Under The Tide", although shots of Martin singing are sprinkled throughout.
- The Jamie McKelvie-directed "Bury It" with Hayley Williams. The four are featured flying around and playing with telekinesis.
- Boléro Effect: "Tether".
- The Cameo: Hayley Williams pops up on an remixed version of "Bury It".
- Cover Version: "I Would Die 4 U", stylised as "I Would Die 4 V", "It's Not Right But It's Okay" and "Bela Lugosi's Dead".
- Downer Ending: On first listen, "Under the Tide" seems to be about a couple working through a failed relationship. However, in an interview with the lead singer, the band revealed it was written for a friend with terminal illness who recently passed. This information casts the song in a new, more depressing light.
- Ending Theme: "Death Stranding" for the game of the same name.
- Fading into the Next Song: "Night Sky" —> "Science/Visions" on The Bones of What You Believe, and "ii" —> "Wonderland" on Love is Dead.
- Fly Or Die: This happens to Martin when the gang tries out their telekinetic powers on themselves in the music video for ''Bury It."
- Genre Shift: "ZVVL" and the two remixes of "Recover" sound very much out of place on Recover EP.
- Genre Throwback: To 1980s synthpop.
- Gratuitous Panning: On "The Mother We Share", the opening "Oh ah oh oh oh ah" vocals repeatedly bounce back and forth between the left and right channels.
- Idiosyncratic Album Theming: Both of their first two albums have an Album Title Drop, but Love is Dead broke the chain. There's a subtler one as well: their first album has a song called "Lies", the second references "Lies" in "Never Ending Circles", and the third references "Never Ending Circles" in "Miracle".
- Idiosyncratic Cover Art: The cover of Recover EP shows a symbol with three V shapes on it. The cover of "Gun' shows a symbol with three circles. The cover of The Bones of What You Believe combines both symbols.
- Every Open Eye dropped that design, this time focusing on pictures of flowers with mosaic-like squares put over them.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: "ii"
- Indie Pop
- Last Note Nightmare: "We Sink" ends with some weird digital gurgling, which sound like the bottom of the sea.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "Recover", "ZVVL", "Tether", "Night Sky", "Strong Hand" and "Broken Bones".
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Gun" has rather violent lyrics for an upbeat electro-rock song.
- As is "By the Throat".
- Most of their music could count.
- Non-Appearing Title: "ZVVL".
- Not Christian Rock: Despite the name, they're not a Christian band. They chose the name because it "sounded cool".
- Older Than She Looks: Lauren turned 32 in 2019 but looks (and sounds) much younger.
- Perky Goth: The video for "Empty Threat" is about a group of goth teens passing time with some underage drinking and smoking before heading to the waterpark and having some fun. Lauren herself was a Perky Goth as a teenager and still dresses in all black or black and white when she can.
- Precision F-Strike: "The Mother We Share" and "We Sink".
- Religion Rant Song: "Deliverance" can be interpreted this way.
- Retraux: Their songs sound like they came out of the 1980s.
- Shout-Out:
- The title of "ZVVL" appears to be one to Ghostbusters (1984).
- The cover art to Every Open Eye features flowers and colored squares, like that other album with flowers and colored squares, New Order's Power, Corruption & Lies .
- Surreal Music Video: "Gun".
- Synth-Pop
- Two Guys and a Girl: Two Guys (Iain Cook and Martin Doherty) and a Girl (Lauren Mayberry)
- While Rome Burns: The lyrics to "Death Stranding" suggest this at The End of the World as We Know It:You can take my heartAnd hold it together as we fall apartMaybe together we can make a mark in the stars we embarkAnd keep us together as the lights go dark
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: They're named this way so they could be easier to Google.
- Also "ZVVL".
