CHVRCHES long for escapism on new single ‘Over’
The new track from the Scottish synth-pop trio explores themes of ‘trying to exist in an escapist dreamscape when life is difficult’
CHVRCHES have returned with their soaring new single ‘Over’ – listen below.
The first new music from the Scottish trio since 2021’s Screen Violence and the subsequent Director’s Cut, the single marks the start of the band’s next era.
“I try my best to turn down the noise / And I tell myself that boys will be boys / It’s getting harder to breathe / So, baby, put me to sleep / Till it gets better,” frontwoman Lauren Mayberry sings atop the band’s signature synth arrangements. “So wake me up when it’s over / It’s over / When it’s over / Tell me it was all just a dream / And wake me up when it’s over.”
An accompanying music video is also set to premiere today (February 24) at 7:45pm GMT. Listen to ‘Over’ below.
Posting about the new single on social media, CHVRCHES wrote: “We finished this song over the holidays and the way it explores themes of trying to exist in an escapist dreamscape when life is difficult felt timely so we didn’t want to wait to put it out.”
Speaking about the track, made in collaboration with producer-songwriter Oscar Holter (The Weeknd, Charli XCX, Coldplay, BTS), CHVRCHES said in a press statement: “Over is a song that we wrote with Oscar Holter, a producer we really respect and admire.
“Normally we collect songs over the course of months (or years!) until we have an album’s worth of material, but this time we just wanted to release something we were excited about and give the fans something new to mark the end of the Screen Violence era, and the start of whatever the next CHVRCHES chapter might be.”
The band’s fourth album, Screen Violence, came out in August 2021, and included tracks ‘Final Girl’, ‘Violent Delights’ and ‘How Not To Drown’ featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith.
The expanded Director’s Cut was then released in October of the same year, arriving with three more horror-inspired tracks ‘Killer’, ‘Screaming’ and ‘Bitter End’.
The band also shared a cover of Gerard McMann’s ‘Cry Little Sister’ back in September 2021 for Netflix’s dark fantasy film Nightbooks.
“I think for me it was helpful to go into the process with the idea that I could write something escapist almost,” Mayberry said in a press statement upon announcing 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.”
Last year, CHVRCHES signed a new deal to Island Records in North America and EMI in the UK, following an amicable split with Glassnote Records, according to Mayberry. “We’ve always been really lucky to have great partners with what we were doing,” the singer told Billboard. “Making some of the changes was quite emotional … But we’re really excited by what Island and EMI were bringing to the table.”