By Following on from the explosive success of their debut album ‘The Bones of What You Believe’, synthpop band CHVRCHES return with their emotion provoking sophomore album titled ‘Every Open Eye’.
Instantly, the album opens with huge floor fillers, including the singles ‘Never Ending Circles’ and ‘Leave A Trace’, creating a Massive surge of energy to prepare the listener for the rest of the album. Both of these singles have achieved notable success prior to the album release. Now, the opening track (‘Never Ending Circles’) is easily a fan introduction to the album, with its similarities with their single ‘Recover’. The album then goes into more emotionally funky tracks such as ‘Make Them Gold’; this opens up for the dark pop vibe present in the second half of the album.
It is clear that the latter half of the album is close to heart for the band and pulls on the heart strings of many whilst still keeping its synthpop tones. The track ‘High Enough to Carry You’ feels like a different direction for CHVRCHES, in the sense that it is more of mellow song and the majority of the lyrics are sung by Martin Doherty as appose to Lauren Mayberry (lead singer), however, the artist is still clearly identifiable. Doherty also performed the lead vocals for both ‘Under the Tide’ and You Caught the Light’ on ‘The Bones of What You Believe’. He is credited for lead vocals for ‘Follow You’ which is available on the special edition of ‘Every Open Eye’.
The ecliptic emotional highs and lows continue throughout the songs ‘Empty Threat’, ‘Down Side of Me’, ‘Playing Dead’ and ‘Bury It’. ‘Empty Threat’ consists of the favourable fast paced synth backing layered with energetic singing. This familiar formula is one of the main aspects of CHVRCHES popularity. The mood slows down in the track ‘Down Side of Me’, there are still some ‘poppy’ synths featured on the song but only about two-thirds in, and after the common pop synth section the vocals become dark when accompanying the heavy synths. Both ‘Playing Dead’ and ‘Bury’ display a somewhat desperation in the vocals, the tracks continue to be dark, mysterious and extremely intriguing.
The standard version of the album closes with the beautiful riveting ‘Afterglow’, the warm raw emotion permeates the whole track. In my opinion, the song is stunning; Lauren’s soothing vocals power through heartfelt emotions with ease. The synths alone provide this tune with such an overpowering feel – nearing cinematic.
The special edition of the album contains three bonus tracks; ‘Get Away’, ‘Follow You’ and ‘Bow Down’. ‘Get Away’ was originally written and released as a part of BBC Radio 1’s rescore to the film ‘Drive’ (curated by former DJ for the station, Zane Lowe). It works wonderfully as both a stand-alone track on the album and a phenomenal piece to a classic movie. The album’s penultimate track, ‘Bow Down’, seems quite minimalistic due to a couple of simple synths, the odd drum beat and Mayberry’s clean vocals at first. However, with the chorus arrives a huge upbeat 80s pop feel. In my opinion, this song should have been a major single on the standard album; it’s a catchy tune and definitely displays CHVRCHES in their natural environment.
This album will do perfectly as an augmented continuation to ‘The Bones of What You Believe’ and it is outstanding as a sophomore album. With increasing popularity and a tour just around the corner, it is clear that CHVRCHES aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and I think we’re all highly anticipating their next release.
