CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye (Album Review)

Chvrches early EP buzz culminated with the very well received and very good The Bones of What You Believe. The follow-up, Every Open Eye, has some pretty big expectations. To me it's a question of can the band repeat what made their debut album such a great set of songs and still keep it fresh.

After a few listens it's easy to hear that the music has tons of catchy dance inspired moments while also providing some nice landscapes. "Never Ending Circles" is a great opening track. It feels like an anthem and it really reminds me in some ways of the classic M.IA. single "Paper Planes". The album closer "Afterglow" is one prime example of the landscape like element of the album. The music flows along providing this inspiring, bright feeling while Laren Mayberry's vocals sit up front building and meshing with the music as the song moves along. It really showcases her vocal talent nicely. Martin Doherty sings lead vocals on the song "High Enough To Carry You". His limited but nice lead vocal performances on Chvrches music has always been something I've enjoyed. "High Enough To Carry You" sounds like a lost 80s pop gem. The music is so dance-able and fits his vocal ability really nicely.

Although Chvrches has turned up with a really nice sounding sophomore album that will no doubt find fans of electronic music and 80s revivalism loving tons of moments, one could say the band has turned in more of the same on this one. While I thoroughly enjoy pretty much every song on Every Open Eye the album sounds a lot like the band's debut album The Bones of What You Believe. Some people might see the lack of musical progression as a boring sonic retreading, although that isn't the case for me. The songs are similar, the production is nice, the music sounds great, and Mayberry's vocals sound really good as per usual so it doesn't sound stale to me. They keep it just fresh enough for this album, but I think it's something they might have to address on future albums.

Although it may not progress the band's sound a lot, Every Open Eye is a super fun album. It's well performed, the songs sound nicely fleshed out, I like the lyrics, and I'm really enjoying all of the songs. It may not hit you quite as hard as the band's debut, but to me it's just as good. There's no way around it; this is a well written and fun album that I'm really enjoying.