CHVRCHES have really had some moments in the last few years. The Scottish electronic trio has toured relentlessly, working up enough presence to secure a new deal away from longtime indie home Glassnote, signing to Island Records in 2022. And the band are celebrating with a well-earned rest: frontwoman Lauren Mayberry is releasing her first solo music and supporting it with a tour this fall. But CHVRCHES proper is all about celebration this season, specifically the 10th anniversary of their debut album, 2013's The Bones of What You Believe.
The buzzy LP, which introduced the world to multi-instrumentalists Iain Cook and Martin Doherty alongside Mayberry's distinctive vocals, will get a fresh remaster by Gavin Lurssen, who mastered the band's fourth album Screen Violence (2020). It'll also be augmented by nine unreleased bonus tracks: four live cuts and five unheard studio tracks from the band's earliest assemblages of the album. "Manhattan" can be heard below.
Recorded in 2011, "Manhattan" represents the coalescing of the group's distinctive electroclash sound. "It was the first time we messed around with sampling and chopping up our vocals which would go on to become one of the hallmarks of the band's sound," Cook said in a statement. "Lyrically, we were playing around with pretty abstract apocalyptic imagery--in this case the Manhattan Project. This was right around the time we asked Lauren to come into the studio to try out some additional vocals."
Mayberry, a former music journalist and drummer in various bands, found her instrument fit well with the sounds the college friends had been experimenting with after flirtations with more guitar-based efforts. "'Manhattan' was one of the first songs Iain and Martin played me and it immediately felt like an exciting thing to be involved in," she said in a statement. "It really showcased a lot of the traits that would eventually become synonymous with CHVRCHES and what our first album would end up sounding like."
The record was a success on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching the U.K. Top 10 and peaking just outside of the same space on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Mother We Share" became a favorite of blogs and college radio stations, becoming the group's first of many electronic earworms.
The expanded Bones will hit stores October 13 and can be pre-ordered below. The band's official store will also offer clear vinyl versions of the expanded album, plus a limited edition adding a signed art card and clear 7" with two demos of "The Mother We Share."
The Bones of What You Believe (10 Year Anniversary Special Edition) (Glassnote, 2023)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD/LP 1: Remastered album (released as Virgin/Goodbye V 3116 (U.K.)/Glassnote GLS-0147 (U.S.), 2013)
- The Mother We Share
- We Sink
- Gun
- Tether
- Lies
- Under the Tide
- Recover
- Night Sky
- Science/Visions
- Lungs
- By the Throat
- You Caught the Light
CD/LP 2: Bonus material (previously unreleased)
- Manhattan
- White Summer
- Talking in My Sleep
- City on Fire
- We Sink (Live at Ancienne Belgique / 2013)
- Now is Not the Time (Live at Ancienne Belgique / 2013)
- Lies (Live at Ancienne Belgique / 2013)
- Strong Hand (Live at Ancienne Belgique / 2013)
- By the Throat (Live at Ancienne Belgique / 2013)
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