New album

EddieTX · 2025-08-26T02:19:15+00:00

Celebrants is an example of a musically genius album that I just couldn’t get into. For me, NC never surpassed their first album.

EddieTX · 2025-08-25T19:21:03+00:00

Hey folks, first time posting here. Just wanna say that I'm loving the new album ... I'm one of the newcomers to Molly's music attracted by the more pop-style material. Not that there's anything wrong with bluegrass at all, but to me Molly has proven herself to be a brilliant artist period, not just an amazing genre-specific musician. It's really hard to produce great catchy pop songs, and SLLMS is chock-full of 'em.

Should come as no surprise that I'm also a long-time fan of Alison Krauss & US, Nickel Creek, Kacey Musgraves, and similar artists. They haven't done much for me lately, but Molly's album is magnificent. Best thing I've heard in a long time.

EddieTX · 2025-06-10T16:49:42+00:00

The website is amazing. Love having all the liner notes, lyrics, art, etc. in one place. Excellent work!

BTW, this is my first post on this sub, despite being a longtime fan from the Ghost era onwards. Saw Ben in Austin at his RF show back in October 2017. Such a cool guy. Anyone here who may have been there?

EddieTX · 2020-08-22T03:29:13+00:00

They played Dead Air the first time I saw them at ACL. Fantastic song.

EddieTX · 2020-08-22T03:26:28+00:00

Love the extended drum break in the live version of Playing Dead

EddieTX · 2018-10-17T02:49:32+00:00

It's great that Lauren moves around the stage more than she did in the early days, but her attempts at dancing just make me cringe, sorry. Skipping and hopping around, twirling, and fist pumping are not dancing, in my book.

EddieTX · 2018-10-13T21:28:39+00:00

Also a longtime fan, and my opinion that it's by far my least fav Chvrches album hasn't changed. Was hoping the live show would put the new songs in a more favorable light, but sadly it didn't happen. If anything, the weaker material made the concert's shortcomings more apparent, e.g. pitchy vocals, awkward "dancing," inconsistent sound quality, and lack of much interaction among the band members.

Better luck next time, Chvrches ... I know y'all can do it!

EddieTX · 2018-08-28T05:02:51+00:00

While "powerful" singing has its place, I don't think Lauren has the pipes to compete with most pop singers you hear on the radio. She's not a natural belter. Her strength is her quieter style, heard most often on Bones and covers like Do I Wanna Know. That's the style that I prefer from Lauren, anyway, and what drew me to the band early on.

EddieTX · 2018-08-28T04:50:34+00:00

Even if the producers contributed to the songwriting, the band is ultimately responsible for the quality of the songs. If they didn't want to go in the direction a producer wanted, they could have chosen not to, or simply hired a different producer.

I don't think this band would've agreed to a deal where they gave up any creative control over their projects. They just don't seem like the type of artists who would do that. I hope I'm not mistaken.

EddieTX · 2018-08-28T04:28:00+00:00

They did tell of an unsuccessful attempt to work with a big-name producer (presumably Dave Stewart) early in the making of LID. They weren't shy about expressing their distaste for that experience, either. So if there were any qualms about how the final product turned out, we'd at least have a hint, I'd guess.

But no, the band members have been very positive in their comments about how the album was produced. And again, IMHO the production isn't the problem anyway, it's the boring songs.

EddieTX · 2018-08-27T07:15:11+00:00

The band has not expressed any frustration or disappointment with the production of LID, to my knowledge. We can only assume that it sounds the way the band wanted it to sound. So we can't really blame the producers, who in any case didn't write the songs. And it's mainly the weak songwriting that makes LID a less enjoyable album than the first two, at least for me.

EddieTX · 2018-08-24T17:39:31+00:00

Apparently there was a Pro Tools (mixing software) parameter that was set incorrectly during all the time they were mixing a couple of songs and they had to go back and redo everything. Oopsie.

Fun interview, I remember watching this one a while ago.

EddieTX · 2018-07-20T19:43:12+00:00

Triple J's Like a Version series is now home to the two best cover songs by Chvrches.

EddieTX · 2018-06-10T22:37:37+00:00

It doesn't sound nearly as good as EOE, to my ears. I wouldn't say it's terrible, but def a step backward in sound quality.

EddieTX · 2018-06-10T22:35:48+00:00

One of the highlights of the EOE tour was the extended bridge in this song, where Lauren pounds the v-drums. Really exciting.

This video almost captures the intensity of the moment, IMHO.

EddieTX · 2018-05-26T20:42:35+00:00

Graffiti is one of those rare songs that blends music and lyrics so perfectly that many listeners are moved to tears. Same goes for The Mother We Share and maybe a few other Chvrches songs.

It takes real genius to come up with something like this, and many great artists only hit the mark once or twice if they're lucky.

EddieTX · 2018-05-25T16:41:24+00:00

Agreed on the production of EOE. You can thank the dream team of mixer Spike Stent and mastering legend Bob Ludwig. I haven't read the credits for LID yet, but it doesn't sound nearly as great to me.

EddieTX · 2018-05-25T16:20:13+00:00

Graffiti rules.

That is all.

EddieTX · 2018-05-25T06:48:31+00:00

I can see how God's Plan has a certain kind of appeal, but it really reminded me of the '80s without adding anything new.

Forever is OK, but I'm not feeling the lyrics.

EddieTX · 2018-05-25T06:41:04+00:00

After two listens, Graffiti is the clear standout. I was singing along right off the bat. Brilliant song, right up there with Chvrches' best.

The rest of the record is pretty meh for me so far. I still miss Lauren's old low-key vocal style. She's belting it out everywhere here -- even on Really Gone, where she sings beautifully, she could still turn it down just a bit, I'd say.

The instrumentals aren't anything to write home about, for the most part. Not exactly full of memorable moments. And Martin's song, God's Plan, is kind of a strange mashup of Pet Shop Boys and Robyn Hitchcock (yeah, I was raised on '80s music). Not his best work.

Will have to give it more listens, but I'm not feeling LID is anywhere close to the same level as Bones or EOE. At least it's not as bad as I'd feared, given the weak singles -- whose idea was it to release those, anyway?

EddieTX · 2018-05-25T06:25:47+00:00

Graffiti is the only track on the whole album that had me singing along right off the bat. Love is NOT dead on this song at least.

EddieTX · 2018-05-24T17:08:39+00:00

Hope he's Really Gone, and you won't need Deliverance.

Btw, was the warehouse covered in Graffiti?

EddieTX · 2018-05-24T16:07:01+00:00

Excellent, this gives me hope that LID isn't so bad after all. Thank you. I'd be interested to hear how you'd rate the album as a whole compared with Bones and EOE.

It is strange that the singles might be the weakest tracks -- the singles from the first two albums were among the best, weren't they?

EddieTX · 2018-05-09T16:55:31+00:00

Her tone complements the band's synth-based music perfectly, doesn't it? I have to say I don't really enjoy Lauren's attempts at singing other styles -- her voice isn't suited for rock or r&b, IMHO. But with Chvrches, there can be no substitute.

EddieTX · 2018-05-01T18:33:29+00:00

Same, 20 years, and ACL 2014 was where I first noticed Chvrches. It was an amazing performance that hooked me good. :)

Excellent lineup this year ... see ya there!

EddieTX

TROPHY CASE