Review: Chvrches, 02 Academy

Since their formation in 2011, Chvrches have been shortlisted in the BBC’s Sound of 2013, sold out tours of increasingly large venues and steadily grown a devoted and significant fan base. Their return to Bristol was to a packed 02 Academy and if it wasn’t sold out it was as near as damn it.

Due to increased security procedures following the events in Paris on Friday 13 November getting into the 02 Academy took longer than it would have in happier gig-going times. However there were no murmurs of discontent from the lengthy queue and once inside the venue after a thorough security check it was the same old 02 Academy.

Support act Mansionair were OK. Just that. OK. Not so offensively bad you would assume that they had bought their support slot on the Chvrches tour, just a bit inoffensively obvious with their influences, bit of Wild Beasts at the end, bit of torch singing here and there. Granted, the singer did have a good voice – he was just let down by the derivative and unengaging tunes.

Chvrches brand of sophisticated electro-indie-pop could be easily dismissed as ‘just pop’ but live it retains an almost ‘home-made’, DIY, ‘bedroom-producer’ sensibility and warmth that sets it apart from most bands within that genre. 

Opening tune Never Ending Circles from new album Every Open Eye possessed a massive, rumbling bass line which booted you unapologetically in the stomach and knees, then danced away happily. It was  exactly the right thing to remind anyone who had seen Chvrches before just how good a live band they are.

And indeed how huge a sound this synth-led trio can make, OK it wasn’t Sunn0))) loud but it was loud enough. Fortunately the crystal clear mix meant that you could hear every word of every song and hear that the vocals were pretty much perfect every time. With a mix like that and songs like Chvrches write, there was, and is, nowhere for a bum note to hide.

Onstage the band are very much that, a band. Whilst they could have gone down the focusing on the frontwoman route Chvrches have in the main avoided doing that in the media and the interaction with the crowd exemplified this. 

Lauren Mayberry was engaging, chatty and appeared to be thoroughly enjoying herself on stage, nearly tripping over a water bottle in the process and then pointing it out in case anyone had missed it. Her bandmates Iain Cook and Martin Docherty also engaged with the crowd more than would be expected of a pair of serious synth players. However lest we forget they were also in rockier guitar bands prior to Chvrches, so perhaps they need time to perfect the achingly dull and pretentious synth automaton stance beloved of many bands at their level of success.

One of the more noticeable aspects of the gig was the crowd reacted as rapturously to new songs such as Empty Threat and Clearest Blue as they did to old favourites such as Tether, Lies and Gun.  Pretty good going when the new songs have only been officially released since the end of September.

Chvrches are a band growing in confidence all the time yet they still retain an approachable credibility. After this superb gig it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise of 2016 to see a synthpop trio playing intelligent dance-y music that deals with some complex emotions and situations headlining one of the main stages at Glastonbury Festival.  And that synth-pop trio really should be Chvrches.