The XX have a lot to answer for. When I heard the singles\EP’s that Chvrches have previously released I thought it was an interesting sound and the album showed promise. How wrong I was. After playing their debut album (The Bones Of What You Believe) I just felt Meh.
One of the main things I don’t like about the album is that all the songs kind of merge into one. I can’t really remember anything about any of them apart from they have female vocals, some synths in them and they sound ok. That’s not really what I want from music. I long for lyrics that I turn over in my head trying to find their true meanings. Melodies that get lodged in my head for days. A bassline I hum while walking.
It sounds like really boring ‘pop’ music. But pop music made by hipsters for hipsters. If you want to listen to pop, play some pop, not some ‘cool indie’ types making pop. There’s no difference between this and any pop tart in the charts.
So what does this have to do with my original comment about The XX? Simply The XX\Wild Beasts made making indie synth pop look easy (when it isn’t). Other people thought they could make indie pop too. Some had some success, others didn’t (I think Chvrches are in the middle). But if it hadn’t been for The XX\Wild Beasts (basically) redefining indie synth pop Chvrches wouldn’t have had a chance of getting signed. I know that I’m talking about things here that I can’t say wouldn’t have happened. They probably would have been signed eventually, but they wouldn’t have had this amount of hype.
Overall I’m quite disappointed by this album. I was hoping for quite a bit, and I was given very little. I don’t really like writing bad reviews, as I know a lot of people worked hard to get the album (and band) to this level (label people\producers and the band themselves) but I just didn’t enjoy it.
thisyearinmusic 