Culture 4 min read By Trevor Kendall
Chvrches Return With Politically Charged Single 'Roses' and Intimate Glasgow and London Shows
Chvrches have released their first new music in five years with the dark, industrial single 'Roses,' and announced two intimate UK shows in Glasgow and London with proceeds going to charity.
Chvrches have released their first new music in five years with the single «Roses,» a dark, industrial track that marks a sharp departure from the anthemic disco-pop of their 2021 album «Screen Violence.» The Scottish trio — Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty — have also announced two intimate shows in Glasgow on October 26 and London on October 29, with all proceeds going to charity.
The politically charged song features Mayberry snarling «Raise a glass to delusions of the good days of blood and wine; of pearls for swine» before it gives way to a choral chorus and an Orwellian closing announcement: «If I may command your undivided attention, now we can start.» The accompanying video shows Mayberry sporting a new goth look as she sings in front of a crashed car alongside a knight's shining armour.
«This is the longest break we had ever taken between albums and when we got together to write new music, we wanted to really push ourselves and not be retreading ground we'd walked before,» Mayberry said. «I really think we achieved that. It feels like the most coherent vision we've had as a band. We're excited to be back.»
Fans can enter a ballot for the chance to buy tickets to the secret shows, with all proceeds going to charity. The band's return comes months after they debuted another new song, «Conman,» during their set at Robert Smith's Teenage Cancer Trust's Royal Albert Hall gig series. That track also opened with a pulsing, industrial bass, as Mayberry sang: «A man made for the microphone fills my pockets full of stones / All of his wives, all of his nine lives dance on the edge of a knife.»
Last summer, Chvrches first told fans they had started work on a new album, and earlier this year, Doherty and Jonny Scott told NME what fans could expect from the project. «It's going to surprise people, and I hope it's going to delight them and rip some faces off,» Doherty said, adding that it was 90 per cent complete. «It's quite hard, but not to the point where you won't recognise the band. It's still the same people and DNA.»
In the years since their last album, Mayberry released her debut solo LP «Vicious Creatures» in December 2024, which received a three-star review from NME. She has also collaborated with IDLES' Joe Talbot, Death Cab For Cutie, and The National's Aaron Dessner. The latter saw them record a cover of Frightened Rabbit's «Who'd Kill You Now?» for «Tiny Changes,» a commemorative tribute album for the band's late frontman Scott Hutchison.
Doherty and Scott launched their rave-indebted project The Leaving earlier this year, which was formed after they both found themselves living in Los Angeles and going through difficult times. As for bandmate Iain Cook, he shared a remix of The Cranberries' 1993 track «Linger» in 2024, and in 2022 teamed up with Scott Paterson, formerly of Sons & Daughters, to launch the project Protection.
The new single «Roses» finds the trio reprising the darker, knottier approach of «Screen Violence» while leaning heavier into a rock sound than ever before. The track has been described as a far cry from the band's earlier disco-pop output, signalling a new era for the group as they prepare to release their first album in five years.
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