Like many albums from the last year, Screen Violence was heavily influenced and affected by the global pandemic. The fourth album from Glasgow synth-pop band CHVRCHES was created in fragments, with each member composing and recording parts of the songs while isolated from the rest. Only the vocals and final mixing were done together.
Though not a concept album, themes of isolation and of life, death, love, and destruction happening over screens permeates each song. Screen Violence delves into the harm caused by such isolating behind a screen, all of the emotionally unhealthy aspects of being very online, and makes repeated references to violent imagery from horror movies. To CHVRCHES, the online life we’ve been living on our screens is the perfect material for horror.
Songs like “He Said She Said” follow the standard CHVRCHES formula. Soft, subdued verses slowly build as Martin Doherty and Ian Cook’s synthesizers swell to the climactic chorus, the bass and drums pounding as a flood of bright synthesizers is unleashed. There are some songs that stray from that formula, though, such as the guitar-based “Better If You Don’t.”
“Final Girl” finds vocalist Lauren Mayberry comparing her own survival to that of the final girl in a horror movie. “Telling all the tales took time that I just do not have. Sifting through the wreckage, I think you just have to laugh,” Mayberry sings over a bouncing retro groove. “In the final cut, in the final scene, there’s a final girl, does she look like me?” she asks in the chorus.
In the slow ballad “Lullabies,” CHVRCHES laments avoiding conflict and living in a state of denial. “Drinking the pesticide, thinking that it’s not suicide if we act polite,” Mayberry sings over brooding keyboards. But sometimes paralysis and avoidance are the easier ways to go, as is suggested in the overdubbed, emotional chorus. “Televise the great disaster; we’re better off inside of the screen.”
That avoidance is contrasted by “Good Girls,” where Mayberry decides to no longer smile and pretend. “They tell me I’m hell-bent on revenge. I cut my teeth on weaker men,” she sings. That vengeance plays out in several ways, including cancel culture. “Killing your idols is a chore,” she sings, her soothing voice masking anger. “Maybe if you just got some guts we’d kill them with a thousand cuts and say we did it out of love.” As the twinkling synthesizers and slow verses build to a pulsing groove in the dynamic chorus, CHVRCHES reaffirms its knack for catchy pop hooks.
On previous albums, Doherty took over on lead vocals for one or two songs, his voice serving as a nice temporary departure from Mayberry’s syrupy soprano. While this time Doherty is only heard in the background, Robert Smith (The Cure) duets with Mayberry on standout track “How Not To Drown.” With its propulsive drums, catchy keyboard lick, and earwig melody, it’s the best CHVRCHES song since Every Open Eye in 2015.
As with 2018’s somewhat disappointing Love Is Dead, this album fails to meet the high expectations set by the band’s first two releases. The melodies are good, but not as unique or memorable; the grooves are fun, but lacking the infectious hooks. While Screen Violence doesn’t quite meet the standards set early by the band, it’s still delightfully moody synth-pop that can be enjoyed equally whether on the dance floor or quietly contemplating the violence it depicts.
