Love Is Dead (Chvrches album)

Love Is Dead
Studio album by Chvrches
Released	25 May 2018 (2018-05-25)
Recorded	February–December 2017
Studio	Echo, Los Angeles[a] Alucard, New York City[b] Red Bull, New York City[c] Rokstone, London[d]
Genre	Synth-pop[1]
Length	49:03
Label	Virgin EMI Goodbye
Producer	31st Day Chvrches Greg Kurstin Ice Mike Steve Mac
Chvrches chronology
Every Open Eye (2015) Love Is Dead (2018) Hansa Session EP (2018)
Singles from Love Is Dead
"Get Out" Released: 31 January 2018 "My Enemy" Released: 28 February 2018 "Never Say Die" Released: 29 March 2018 "Miracle" Released: 10 April 2018

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.6/10[2]
Metacritic	73/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The A.V. Club	B[5]
The Independent	[6]
Mojo	[7]
NME	[8]
The Observer	[9]
Pitchfork	6.3/10[1]
Q	[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Uncut	6/10[12]

Love Is Dead is the third studio album by Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches. It was released on 25 May 2018 by Virgin EMI Records and Goodbye Records. The album was co-produced by Greg Kurstin, marking the first time the band have worked with outside producers. The band collaborated with David Stewart from Eurythmics and Matt Berninger from The National during production. The album was announced by Martin Doherty at the start of January 2018, with frontwoman Lauren Mayberry accidentally revealing the album's name in a since-deleted interview that same month.

After wiping their social media accounts, the band released the lead single, "Get Out", on 31 January. The track listing for the album was released two days before the next single, "My Enemy", which featured Berninger, was released on 28 February. The third single from the album, "Never Say Die", was released on 29 March. "Miracle" was released as the fourth single on 10 April.

Videos were released for "Get Out", "Miracle", "Out Of My Head" and "Graffiti".

The song "Forever" is featured prominently in the third season of the Netflix series Elite.^[13]

Background[]

In September 2015, the band released their second studio album, Every Open Eye, two years after the release of their critically acclaimed debut album, The Bones of What You Believe. It received positive reviews and spawned the singles "Leave a Trace", "Clearest Blue", "Never Ending Circles" and "Empty Threat". Besides releasing the song "Warning Call", cowritten with Solar Fields, for the game Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and releasing a version of "Bury It" with Paramore's Hayley Williams, the band stayed relatively quiet for the rest of the year and the next.

On 1 January 2018, Martin Doherty announced that the band would release an album within the year.^[14] That same month, Lauren Mayberry "accidentally" confirmed this and revealed the album's title in an interview, which has been since deleted.^[15] On 26 February, the band revealed the tracklist to the album on Twitter.^[16]

Recording and production[]

The band started working on Love Is Dead on 7 February 2017 in Los Angeles.^[17] In 24 February, David Stewart, formerly one-half of the musical duo Eurythmics, revealed that he was in the studio with the band.^[18] Greg Kurstin was revealed as a producer for the album on 12 December, with work nearing completion.^[19] According to an article from The Independent, the band opted for more universal topics instead of introspection during production, jotting down ideas in a notebook whenever an opportunity passed.^[20]

Musical style[]

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the band described their work with Kurstin as "the most pop stuff we've done and also the most aggressive and vulnerable at the same time".^[21][22][23] On Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show, on the premiere of "Get Out", Mayberry said that:

After Every Open Eye, we went back into a little writing studio—this time in New York—but we still wanted to take a little time to work out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. We decided this time we wanted to work with a producer. I think it was really good for us to be pushed to do things differently and take risks.

She also explained the album would take an "honest" approach.

If it's going to be more pop it should be more aggressively pop—there's no doing things in half measures. It was nice to not be second guessing ourselves. It's still consistent with what we've done before but it feels like it'll be more of a live experience.^[24]

Promotion[]

The album's lead single, "Get Out", premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 31 January 2018, where Annie Mac dubbed it the Hottest Record in the World; it was released the same day.^[25] The second single, "My Enemy", featuring vocals from Matt Berninger of The National, was named Zane Lowe's World Record when it premiered on Beats 1 in 28 February, after the tracklist and artwork reveal.^[26] "Never Say Die" was released on 29 March, the third single from the album.^[27] Premiered on BBC Radio 1, "Miracle" was released on 10 April as the fourth and final single. It is the album's only song recorded in the United Kingdom.^[28]

Prior to the release of "Get Out", and after wiping all of their social media accounts, the band released a short video with a weblink captioned "GET IN", which contained a link that would lead to a Facebook Messenger page made by the band.^[29][30] Furthermore, in the music video for the respective single, alongside Matt Berninger taping an advertisement, a poster advertised a phone number. When called, Mayberry reads part of the lyrics to "My Enemy".^[31]

Prior to the official release, the band celebrated the upcoming album with a release party by performing live at iHeartRadio Album Release Party in New York City on 22 May. During the show, they debuted some of the new music for the first time, including songs like "God's Plan", "Graffiti" and "Forever".^[32]

Commercial performance[]

Love Is Dead debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart, selling 11,763 copies in its first week.^[33]

Track listing[]

All tracks are written by Iain Cook, Martin Doherty, Lauren Mayberry and Greg Kurstin, and produced by Kurstin; except where noted.

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Love Is Dead.^[36]

Chvrches[]

• Iain Cook
• Martin Doherty
• Lauren Mayberry

Additional musicians[]

• Ian Chang – drums (10)

Technical[]

Artwork[]

• Warren Fu – creative direction
• Liz Hirsch – design, layout
• Lindsey Byrnes – sleeve photograph
• Danny Clinch – inside photograph

Charts[]

Love is Dead Tour[]

In support of their new album, Chvrches played live worldwide in the festival circuit and venues between 2018 and 2019. The tour officially started on May 25, 2018, with a free show at House Of Vans in London to celebrate the release of their album, but an early album release party held at iHeartRadio Theatre in New York^[57] and other two previous shows (May 19, 2018 - The Josie Dye One Year Anniversary Show at Danforth Music Hall in Toronto and May 21, 2018 - Elsewhere, Brooklyn, NY) are generally considered as part of the tour based on their common setlist and stage design. On December 10, 2019, the band announced the official end of the tour with a message posted on their blog.^[58] The band performed in over 20 countries, attending more than 150 events. For the very first time since their formation, the band added a live drummer, Jonny Scott, to their touring lineup.^[59]

Setlist[]

Chvrches performing live at The Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, Los Angeles in 2018

While the played setlist varied slightly with each show, the typical setlist contained:

1. "Get Out"
2. "Bury It"
3. "Gun"
4. "We Sink"
5. "Graffiti"
6. "Graves"
7. "Miracle"
8. "Under the Tide"
9. "Science/Visions"
10. "Forever"
11. "Recover"
12. "Leave a Trace"
13. "Clearest Blue"
14. "Never Say Die"
15. "The Mother We Share"

Stage Design and Crew[]

For the Love is Dead tour, the stage design was created by the lighting designer and programmer Louis Oliver, who has been working with the band since 2013. The idea behind the blueprints was to use a flexible design which could fit any type of show size. "The main request from the band was to have a more performance focused design, with looks that amplified their performance."^[60] while avoiding the use of any large video screens. The solution was to create 15 touring lighting pods containing 16 Elation Fuze Par Z120 which allowed them to adapt to each venue's limitations. The lighting setup also included 12 Robe BMFL Wash Beams, 13 GLP JDC1, 2 Base Hazer Pros and 2 grandMA2 Light consoles. The most visible elements of the floor package were three custom-built pieces comprising two crosses and a balancing symbol that mimic the artwork created by Warren Fu for the Love is Dead album cover.^[61]

The tour crew also included:

• Tour Manager: Cara McDaniel
• Production Manager: Patrick Scott
• Lighting Director: Greg Hill
• Lighting Crew Chief: Christopher Hassfurther
• Lighting Tech: Troy Grubb
• Sound Engineer: David Simpson
• Lighting Crew Chief: Amanda "Cupcake" Ritchie
• Lighting Tech: Josh Welch

Shows[]

The performances with short setlists (five songs or fewer) are not included in the list below.

Tour dates[]

Notes[]

References[]