Get ready for a lot of Lauren Mayberry in Boston this month. The CHVRCHES vocalist will be playing a trio of upcoming shows in the city: September 12 and 13 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway with Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service; and, as we noted in July, a sold-out September 18 club gig at Brighton Music Hall. And now she has new music to show off at all three and beyond.
This past Friday (September 1), Mayberry released “Are You Awake?”, the first music she has recorded and released as a solo artist. It’s a haunting and atmospheric piano ballad, allowing Mayberry’s voice to extend outward and connect with the listener. It was co-written with Tobias Jesso Jr. and producer Matthew Koma, and mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent.
“’Are You Awake?’ is a song that started on a rainy day last December with Tobias Jesso Jr. I was thinking a lot about loneliness and homesickness, and as soon as Tobias started playing the chords, the lyrics and melody came to me really quickly,” Mayberry says. “I finished the song with my friend Matthew Koma, who really understood what I was trying to say.”
Take it with you below.