Chvrches Surpass Expectations at Nashville’s Exit/In

Nashville – Chvrches debut album, The Bones of What You Believe, was released just over two months ago. In two months, word about the trio’s 80s, synthpop sound spread from the UK to the rest of the English speaking world. Nashville hopped right on the wave.

Chvrches played a sold out show at Exit/In. This was despite the fact that Nashville is known more for Taylor Swift and Paramore than its electronica scene, as lead singer Lauren Mayberry pointed out in between songs. But if their show proved anything, it is that Nashville is ravenous for electronic music, especially if it’s peppered with hooks and beats like those of Chvrches.

We all knew Chvrches would put on an awesome live show. We were expecting the tiny, vivacious Lauren Mayberry to have a voice as pure and powerful as an angel’s. We were expecting some synths, drums, and maybe even some dancing.

What we weren’t expecting was enough bass to rival a European discothèque. We weren’t expecting an elaborate light and smoke display to make Chvrches’ show as appealing visually as it was audibly. We weren’t expecting synth production so elaborate that the band didn’t hardly miss a beat or chord off the album. It was all there, all happening at Exit/In. Chvrches live show flew way above what we envisioned it would be.

They opened the set with “We Sink,” one of the songs off their album that’s nearly impossible not to like. The rest of the show was a shuffled version of the album. This wasn’t too surprising since the entire catalogue of this brand new band doesn’t extend much further than their debut. They bookended the set with the other strongest single off the album, “The Mother We Share.”

In between was a high energy, mesmerizing performance. Martin Doherty won our hearts, perhaps even more than Lauren did, when he took center stage to perform “Under the Tide.” The crowd was quiet before he started, wondering why he’d taken Lauren from us. Doherty proceeded to do exactly what we all wanted to do: dance like a maniac fool to the throbbing, infectious music. His lack of self-consciousness loosened up everyone until the whole place was frenzied and dancing. Perhaps he should be performing the opening song instead of one of the last.

Despite it being late on a Sunday night, the whole crowd stayed to hear Chvrches send us off with the encore song, “By The Throat.” They are on to much bigger cities than Nashville like London, Singapore, and their hometown of Glasgow. You can check out the rest of their tour here.

Photo By Justin-Yee – Thumbnail By Prachi Gupta

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Caroline McDonald

My first memory is of singing Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” quietly to myself during preschool naptime. Perhaps it’s because I’m from Nashville where an instrument lives in every home, but music has gripped me for as long as I can remember.

After dabbling in many parts of the music industry—recording studios, PR, management, labels, publishing—I’m expanding into music journalism because I’m yet to find anything more rewarding that finding and sharing new music.

A longtime sucker for girls with guitars, my musical taste unabashedly follows the songwriting lineage of Dolly Parton and includes Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch, and Neko Case. But not to pigeonhole myself, my music love is big love that stretches from R.L. Burnside to Animal Collective to Lord Huron.

I’ve recently moved home to Nashville after living in Boston and Big Sur for several years. I’d forgotten how music pours onto the streets ten hours a day, seven days a week. I’m honored to share the creative explosion happening here. If your band is in the area or of the area, please reach out!