CHVRCHES

Chvrches took their name from a deliberate spelling: the Roman "v" in place of a "u" was chosen so the Glasgow group would stand apart from actual churches in online searches. Built mostly on synth-pop, their sound also draws on indietronica, indie pop and electronic dance. The core trio of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty began as a studio-only project in 2011, and Jonny Scott has joined them unofficially since 2018.

Their debut song "Lies" appeared in May 2012 on the Neon Gold Records blog and reached number one on The Hype Machine, while the group's first live shows were played as Shark Week before an official debut at the Glasgow School of Art that July. The Recover EP followed in March 2013, carrying "The Mother We Share" and "Recover", and the debut album The Bones of What You Believe arrived that September, the same year the BBC ranked the band fifth on its Sound of 2013 list. Further albums came in Every Open Eye (2015), Love Is Dead (2018) and Screen Violence (2021).