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**CHVRCHES - Screen Violence**
★★★★☆

After a decade of crafting pristine synth-pop confections that made bedroom producers weep with envy, Glasgow's CHVRCHES arrived at their fourth album carrying the weight of a world gone mad. Screen Violence, released in August 2021, finds Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty grappling with the darker currents that have always lurked beneath their candy-coated surfaces – misogyny, mental health, and the suffocating grip of digital existence. The result is their most cohesive and emotionally resonant statement yet, a record that manages to be both their heaviest and most hopeful.

The origins of Screen Violence can be traced back to the fractured aftermath of 2018's Love Is Dead, an album that, despite spawning radio hits, left the band feeling creatively constrained and emotionally drained. The intervening years saw Mayberry become increasingly vocal about online harassment and the music industry's treatment of women, while the pandemic forced the trio into isolation, creating much of the album remotely. This physical separation paradoxically brought them closer together artistically, stripping away external pressures and allowing them to rediscover what made CHVRCHES special in the first place.

Musically, Screen Violence represents a return to the band's electronic roots while pushing into more adventurous territory. The pristine production that occasionally made their previous work feel antiseptic has been replaced by a warmer, more organic approach that allows imperfections to breathe. Doherty and Cook's synthesizer work recalls the golden age of John Carpenter soundtracks and Blade Runner synth-noir, while Mayberry's vocals have never sounded more commanding or vulnerable. The album's sonic palette draws from horror film scores, '80s new wave, and modern electronic music, creating something that feels both nostalgic and futuristic.

The opening triumvirate of tracks establishes the album's themes with surgical precision. "Asking for a Friend" bursts forth with crystalline arpeggios and Mayberry's defiant declaration of independence, while "He Said She Said" confronts misogyny head-on over a relentless four-four pulse that recalls peak-era New Order. But it's "California" that truly announces CHVRCHES' evolution – a shimmering meditation on escape and self-discovery that builds to one of their most euphoric choruses. The track perfectly encapsulates the album's central tension between darkness and light, despair and hope.

"Violent Delights" serves as the album's emotional centerpiece, a haunting ballad that strips away the electronics to reveal the raw humanity at CHVRCHES' core. Mayberry's vocals float over minimal piano and strings, creating an intimacy that the band has rarely achieved. It's followed by "How Not to Drown," featuring The Cure's Robert Smith in a collaboration that could have been disastrous but instead feels inevitable. Smith's weathered croon provides the perfect counterpoint to Mayberry's crystalline delivery, while the track's gothic undertones recall the best of '80s alternative rock.

The album's final act maintains this emotional intensity while gradually building toward catharsis. "Final Girl" transforms horror movie tropes into feminist empowerment, while "Better If You Don't" closes the album on a note of hard-won wisdom and acceptance. Throughout, the band's songcraft remains impeccable – these are pop songs at heart, but pop songs with teeth and emotional depth that their earlier work sometimes lacked.

Screen Violence arrived at a moment when electronic music was increasingly dominated by bedroom producers and TikTok-friendly hooks, making CHVRCHES' commitment to album-length statements feel almost revolutionary. The record received widespread critical acclaim and marked a commercial resurgence for the band, proving that there was still an audience for thoughtful, well-crafted synth-pop in an increasingly fragmented musical landscape.

Two years on, Screen Violence stands as CHVRCHES' creative peak – a record that successfully balances accessibility with artistic ambition, pop sensibilities with emotional complexity. It's an album that reveals new layers with each listen, a rare achievement in an era of playlist culture and shortened attention spans. More importantly, it established CHVRCHES as more than just purveyors of nostalgic synth-pop – they're chroniclers of modern anxiety and architects of electronic catharsis, proving that the future of guitar-free music remains bright indeed.