Editor’s Note: We have tweaked our This Show Is Tonight series to reflect the recent phenomenon of live music livestreaming in the age of social distancing.
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Scottish electronic-pop trio CHVRCHES release their fourth studio album today (August 27) in Screen Violence, and appropriate for the LP’s title, they’ll be debuting it via livestream later tonight live from Los Angeles. The show takes place at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, and viewers can tune in beginning at 9 p.m. PDT via Amazon Music’s Twitch channel. The live show, CHVRCHES’ first in two years, is presented by Amazon Music’s new DV8 playlist and station.
Screen Violence has been well-received so far, led by a trio of singles: April’s “He Said She Said”; a June collab with The Cure’s Robert Smith called “How Not To Drown”; and last month’s “Good Girls”.
The new LP takes its title from an early possible moniker for the band, and was resurrected a decade on to reflect the chaos of the modern word — and how we view it on a daily basis. The record centers around themes of loneliness, disillusionment, fear, heartbreak and regret, based around screen violence in three forms: On screen, by screens, and through screens, according to a press release.
Feels fairly fitting for life in 2021, as we’re overwhelmed on a daily basis by what we consume through the screens forever in front of us.
“I think for me it was helpful to go into the process with the idea that I could write something escapist almost,” says Lauren Mayberry. “That felt freeing initially, to have concepts and stories to weave your own feelings and experiences through but in the end, all the lyrics were definitely still personal.” Martin Doherty adds: “To me, the screen aspect was a bit more literal. When we were making the record, it was like half of our lives were lived through screens. What began as a concept was now a lifeline.”
This November, CHVRCHES become an IRL band again as they hit the road for a North American tour. Hit chvrch.es for dates and all the latest information on that, and listen to Screen Violence below via Spotify.
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