The Daily Princetonian
Thursday april 28, 2016
page S1
PAGES DESIGNED BY LIN KING AND HARRISON BLACKMAN :: STREET EDITORS
SPRING LAWNPARTIES 2016
I
CHVRCHES
quadrangle club
n case you were wondering, Chvrches’ name doesn’t mean anything particularly religious – they “just thought it sounded cool.” The Scottish synthpop indietronica trio, composed of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, hails from Glasgow of (at least for their target audience) music festival fame. Formed several years ago, the band found both critical and commercial success with the release of their “Recover EP” in March 2013 and “The Bones of What You Believe” only six months after. They were soon included in the BBC’s Sound of 2013 list of up-and-coming artists, as well as several other “Best of 2013” features. Most recently,
their second studio album, “Every Open Eye,” was released in September 2015 to further acclaim. The trio first formed in 2011 when Cook and Doherty invited Mayberry to record vocals for a few demos for Blue Sky Archives. Mayberry had grown up playing both the piano and the drums. Before entering the music scene, she’d earned a degree in law and a Masters in Journalism, freelancing for several years before joining the band, though the singer still pens the occasional article, including, in 2013, an op-ed for “The Guardian” regarding the online misogyny directed towards her. Cook played guitar for alternative rock bands Aereogramme and The Unwinding Hours, writ-
COURTESY OF THE GUARDIAN
ing for film and television on the side and Doherty played keyboards for the indie group The Twilight Sad. Chvrches draw from the heyday of 80s new wave, often heralded the modern-day New Order and Depeche Mode. But catchy beats and tapping feet aside, there’s also a sense of strength, of self-assertion in their music. Despite Mayberry’s seemingly sweet vocals – at times girlish and giddy yet always cleanly layered over echoing synth – which call to mind pop of the bubblegum variety, Chvrches’ is a brand of synthpop that calls for close listening. Their lyrics seem vague but prove personal through their bleary-eyed, rounded-corner ambiguity. And
it’s this clash of birdlike vocals together with these nebulous lyrics that results in what may be called Chvrches’ signature sound: accessible, emotive electronica that reclaims strength from the pain of departures and almost-departures, of near-breakups and toxic relationships. Their most popular track to date, “The Mother We Share,” declares, “In the dead of night, I’m the only one here/And I will cover you, until you go-o-oh.” “Leave a Trace” claims, “And you had best believe/That you cannot build what I don’t need.” Their music is powerful in the way only pop can be: perhaps Mayberry doesn’t reach the vocal vibrato of Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High)” or Sia’s “Chandelier,” but she doesn’t
YouTube it: “THE MOTHER WE SHARE” “LEAVE A TRACE” have to – sometimes the music reaches those emotional highs, sometimes Mayberry does, and sometimes they strike a perfect balance. The music may be synthheavy and born of computers, but the emotion is all too real. And if all this talk of passion and power means nothing to you – hey, at least you can dance to them. - TAYLOR KANG, STAFF WRITER spin on the alphabet, reads as a love letter in colored verse, proclaiming in its opening lines, “Be my world/See all the things that you deserve/De-ny me but you’re easy to read.” “Side Effects” fixates on the archetypal on-again, offagain relationship, while “Headlights” celebrates the freedom of
COURTESY OF PANCAKESANDWHISKEY.COM
charter club
H
ailing from New York, indie group The Heydaze consists of Jesse Fink on vocals and guitar, Andrew Spelman on guitar, Alexander Glantz on bass and Tyler Matte on drums. Conceived by Fink and Spelman in 2013 when they were dewy University of Pennsylvania grads, the band’s name derives from the longstanding tradition of the Penn
THE HEYDAZE
Hey Day, a celebration of the last day of classes and the juniors becoming seniors. And it seems that The Heydaze wants to keep the band within the Quaker family – Glantz, the newest addition as of 2014, chose to forgo junior year at Penn for the indie pop scene. Of the self-proclaimed “Windows down, stereo up” genre, the band’s first single, “Little Bandit,” amassed over 256,000 plays on
Soundcloud. Ever since, they’ve been playing sold-out venues in New York such as Webster Hall and, most recently, touring with Jesse McCartney on his In Technicolor Tour and Timeflies on The After Hours Tour. After releasing several other singles, including “Arnold Palmer” and “City Girl,” the group finally released their debut self-titled EP under Island Records in June 2015. Featuring
four tracks, “THE HEYDAZE” is reminiscent of DNCE and other indie, feel-good music. For a group of former Ivy League students, the title of their first track seems out of character – “Dumb,” an ode to the morning after, deals with regret while never abandoning the group’s lighthearted vibe, with Fink declaring, “Guess I’m just young and foolish” in the chorus. “ABC,” a playful
the open road. While a small sampling of what the band has to offer, “The Heydaze” captures the quartet’s spirited sound and celebration of youth and carefreeness. It’s indie pop with a funky twist. You can probably expect an EP from them soon, but to tide you over till then, they’ve also been releasing covers of Tove Lo’s “Habits” and Taylor Swift’s “Style” on their YouTube page. “We just want to write music you can sing along to,” Fink said in an interview. “The songs are clever, but they’re not overthought. We hope everyone can share in that energy.” - TAYLOR KANG, STAFF WRITER
YouTube it: “DUMB” “SIDE EFFECTS” “MASON JAR”