“CHVRCHES” new EP a hit or miss

Scottish electropop trio CHVRCHES dropped “Recover,” their new five track EP last Tuesday.  The release follows their performance at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, and features three un-released tracks and two remixes of the title track.

While CHVRCHES has been floating on the cusp of several of the blogs that I follow, I never actually committed to giving them a listen until after I saw their live SXSW set on NPR, featuring the track “The Mother We Share.”  I had been missing out, and if you have not given CHVRCHES a spin, you have to.

I was so impressed with their performance that I spent last Monday night waiting for the U.S. iTunes release of “Recover.”  Just as I was clicking buy, I noticed the EP did not include any of the singles released thus far, so I was hesitant to follow through. However, my apprehension was quickly melted away by a rather odd feeling.

I felt a pang of guilt; the feeling that sometimes arises when you step up to the record store counter with a CD in your hand.  You don’t really feel like buying it, but the clerk’s eyes lock on you, and you don’t feel like walking back and throwing it back on the racks.  There was no one watching over my shoulder, but I still felt committed.  “Shut up and take my money, Ghost of Steve Jobs.”

The obvious comparison that I’ve been able to make is to Canadian duo Purity Ring’s 2012 release, “Shrines.”  While I am an avid  Purity Ring fan, not many people can get into their surrealist lyrics and deep cutting, southern hip-hop inspired beats.

But CHVRCHES strikes the balance that will make their songs a sure staple for late summer night playlists.  It’s a mixture that, as much as it pains me to say, is “commercially viable.”

The score on the title track reminds me more of French artist Yelle, with tinges of Crystal Castles and Swedish duo The Knife.

The second track, “Zvvl,” takes a darker turn, and is the moodiest song on the EP.  The light reverb on the vocoder fits the Scottish accents of the vocals, and the rest of the song seems like a companion track to Purity Ring’s “Cartographist.” The only downside: the post-chorus drops get repetitive in a hurry.

The third track, “Now is Not the Time,” is a highly infectious song, and is rhythmically on point.  The chorus is reminiscent of a catchy pop tune yanked from the cassette deck of a 1986 Toyota Celica, it would benefit Lady Gaga to take notes.

The two remixes are a hit and miss.  The first remix by Cid Rim is beautiful melodically and compliments the harmony of the vocals; he actually managed to improve on the original.  The drops are heavily saturated in the fluid break-beats that are Cid Rim’s trademark, adding a much needed texture that I found really enjoyable.

The latter, “Cruxes’ 1996 remix,” is an unnecessarily cheesy industrial take on the title song, and sounds like a rejected soundtrack for a YouTube fan film adaptation of “The Matrix.”  It attempts to come off as vintage EDM, but just seems like an awkward afterthought.

All things considered, unless you are really hankering for the Cid Rim Remix, wait until CHVRCHES releases an LP.  It will most likely include the take-home tracks from this release, and let you separate the wheat from the chaff.