Chvrches, the Glasgow-based electro-pop trio, have all the trappings of your new favorite band: a strong debut full of memorable singles, a devout and rapidly expanding fanbase as well as the ability to cover Prince and Lorde without losing the bite of the latter or the playfulness of the former. Sadly, neither were on display during their two-night stay at the 9:30 Club, but the band doesn’t need novelty to put butts in seats.
Stepping out to a capacity crowd Tuesday night on a victory lap of their debut album, Chvrches spent the next hour running through The Bones of What You Believe only to catch their breath to reference Guy Picciotto’s most famous line from Instrument and an encore of slow burners.
With an LED triforce and an impressive lighting rig behind them, the band front-loaded the night with hits—”We Sink,” “Lies,” and “Gun”—but it might as well have been a greatest hits set for those in attendance. Hugs, high-fives, and spoon-standing with your date felt mandatory. For all the Next Big Thing labels that have been thrust upon the band since making blog waves back in 2012, there’s a warmth and sincerity in the songs in a live setting that could come across as coldly calculated in lesser hands.
Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty came together back in 2011 after stints in various Scottish acts including post-rock mopes The Twilight Sad, trading in their guitars and pianos for the various electronics that graced the stage — although Cook made a point to show that the bass guitar on stage wasn’t just for show during the rattling bass sections of “Lungs.”
But even with the highs of songs like fan favorites “Recover” and “Gun,” songs like “Tether” and “Night Sky” couldn’t sustain the momentum after those big endorphin rushes. Conversely, the most forgettable tracks on Bones, like “Science/Visions” and the Doherty-led “Under The Tide,” were blissed-out barnstormers taking on new life on stage. That sense of recognition ultimately helped Chvrches as fans have spent the past seven months to sit with these songs.
When the band played down the street at The Black Cat last summer, a few months before the release of their debut, they were still riding the wave of hype that allowed them to sell out venues on the backs of its promising singles. And while those singles still were the highlight of the show—and with good reason—Tuesday night found the band hitting its marks and even surpassing them on a few occasions.
