Chvrches Reveal Fourth Album ‘Screen Violence,’ Share “How Not to Drown” Video with The Cure’s Robert Smith

Chvrches have revealed their fourth studio album, Screen Violence (Glassnote Records) out Aug. 27 and dates around a fall 2021 North American tour, along with their second single “How Not to Drown,” featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith.

Fused by singer Lauren Mayberry and Smith’s vocals, “How Not To Drown” follows the band’s first single “He Said, She Said,” exploring the expectations of women, particularly in music, and how they can often question and second-guess themselves.

Screen Violence, once conceived as the band’s name, was recorded remotely between Los Angeles and the band’s native Glasgow and was produced and mixed by Chvrches’ band members Lauren Mayberry, Martin Doherty and Iain Cook via video calls and shared audio files.

Following the band’s most recent release Love is Dead in 2018 and Every Open Eye in 2015, Screen Violence, also marks a decade in for the Glaswegian synth rockers. Now 10 years since the band’ began recording their 2013 debut, The Bones of What You Believe, Chvrches have revisited the idea of a Screen Violence and its relevance in today’s world, narrated through three screens exploring “feelings of loneliness, disillusionment, fear, heartbreak and regret.” 

“I think for me it was helpful to go into the process with the idea that I could write something escapist almost,” says Mayberry of the album. “That felt freeing initially, to have concepts and stories to weave your own feelings and experiences through but in the end, all the lyrics were definitely still personal.” 

Doherty adds, “To me, the screen aspect was a bit more literal. When we were making the record, it was like half of our lives were lived through screens. What began as a concept was now a lifeline.”