It’s about halfway through when Chvrches lead singer (and Neighbours devotee) Lauren Mayberry admits that seeing Billy Kennedy in Speedos was the first time she felt “funny feelings”. Say no more, we’ve all been there.
With a heaving audience, witty band stories and psychedelic colour washes the Glaswegian synth-pop trio’s performance tonight has all of the right elements for a great show, but it’s feels lacking. In between and during songs there are voids of energy within the set that, at times, feel as if they are just going through the motions. Largely serving us material off their Recover EP, the performance sometimes feels as stiff and mechanical as their sample pads.
Iain Cook and Martin Doherty give strong support on vintage samplers, guitar and bass but Mayberry admits she’s sipping warm vodka tonight because of a sickness.
Despite the illness the CHVRCHES sound itself is very polished and Mayberry’s vocal deliveries are haunting and present all at once. It makes an obvious highlight out of better-known tracks Recover, Gun and Now Is Not The Time and gets the sauced Scottish backpackers next to me inappropriately grinding.
The band smash out most of their energy on a few tracks from their forthcoming album The Bones of What You Believe. With heavier beats than their early material, both CHVRCHES and their receptive fans throw their bodies around and fist-pump through the tracks. .
BY ISABELLA UBALDI
LOVED: That infectious hook from Recover, gets me every time.
HATED: Strobe effects. There is such a thing as too much.
DRANK: Beer.
