Screen Violence

Even amid all the worrying, their defiant, quivering music vibrates with possibility in a way that plainly and passionately refutes even the darkest moments of despair their lyrics express. [Sep 2021, p.107]

Not only is Screen Violence Chvrches’ finest work since The Bones of What You Believe, it’s also their most purposeful. It feels like they took stock of who they want to be and what they want to say, and these epic songs about letting go but holding onto the ability to feel make for a stunning creative rebirth.

The group’s fourth full-length is a timely mediation on loneliness and fear, thankfully shot through with a hefty dose of the synth-fueled wizardry that’s come to define the best of what the Scottish trio has to offer.

It may not be their best, but it’s their best right now—and it crackles with the energy of a group that’s figured out how to block out the noise and deliver superbly crafted pop music, the kind some idealistic kids would’ve wanted to hear in a Scottish basement over a decade ago.

Overall, her empowering message points at the daily toxic attitudes that female celebrities deal with. Screen Violence also projects confidence in a musical sense with its grand synth-pop and new wave, resisting and challenging the misogyny that unfortunately reaches far beyond our screens.

Their formative years in the underground have always supplied this trio with a sharp and occasionally dark edge. It is an edge no more, but the defining feature of this pugilistic album.

‘Screen Violence’ is so striking it makes 2018’s ‘Love Is Dead’ seem almost blasé in its deliverance.

Chvrches are in a comfy place at the minute: their sound isn’t all that new or exciting anymore, but it’s still as enjoyable as ever, with more anthemic lyrics and shiny synths than you can shake a memory stick at.

It’s Chvrches’ best effort yet and a glimmeringly great addition to 2021’s cultural highlights, that would be a travesty.

It’s their best album to date.

It's to CHVRCHES' credit that Screen Violence doesn't suggest any shallow, put-down-your-phone answers to the questions it raises. Instead, the album makes an unflinching appraisal of present-day anxieties to summon the vitality needed to keep going, in spite of what keeps coming through the screen.

Despite the daring newness, Screen Violence still feels unmistakably CHVRCHES, and one of their strongest records at that.

Screen Violence is a punchy and determined effort, full of big hooks ands awash with glittering synth textures. [Sep 2021, p.27]

What makes Screen Violence such a successful album is that the songs reach for honesty and candor whilst simultaneously working overtime to get people moving. So much dance music chooses the hooks and beats over the heart, but Chvrches makes some of the most expressive pop music for the dance clubs. There are some gorgeous highlights on this album; there’s no filler, an impressive feat for a record with ten tracks.

Screen Violence contains cathartic moments, anthems in the dark, and they approach them with tact and enthusiasm.

The group could have delivered 10 variations on “Clearest Blue” and made (relative) bank. Instead, they let their influences sprawl widely. ... Better yet, they finally build on the darker parts of 2013’s The Bones of What You Believe as they excavate their own career.

Screen Violence represents an enhanced version of Chvrches and although it might not be the most radical evolution, the album marks an intriguing step forward nonetheless.

While Screen Violence doesn’t quite meet the standards set early by the band, it’s still delightfully moody synth-pop that can be enjoyed equally whether on the dance floor or quietly contemplating the violence it depicts.

For the bigger part of Screen Violence, Chvrches keep things exciting while staying unapologetically themselves.

Screen Violence matches the urgency of its sound with the weight of its content. ... Four albums in, Chvrches have honed their pop craft and, by extension, their ability to transform hopelessness into inspiration.

It’s a considerable improvement over the absolute mess that was Love is Dead, at the very least, but they’ve taken a step a bit too far into their past to bounce back fully.

It simply does what CHVRCHES have always done, but it falls short of reaching the exciting thrills of their earlier work. Rather than distilling their sound into its most captivating components, Screen Violence retreads already well-trodden territory.