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Every Open Eye

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Untitled

Every Open Eye is the second studio album by Scottish synthpop band Chvrches, released on 25 September 2015 by Virgin EMI Records and Goodbye Records.[4] Self-produced, it is the band's follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut album, The Bones of What You Believe (2013).[5] The album title comes from a lyric in the song "Clearest Blue".[6] The album received positive reviews from music critics and was listed on several year-end best-of lists.[7]

Recording and production

Chvrches began work on their second album in January 2015, six weeks after returning from touring to promote The Bones of What You Believe.[8] Recording took place in Alucard Studios,[9] located in a basement flat owned by Cook,[10] refurbished with the advance for the new album.[8] The trio would write a rough instrumental, Mayberry would pen lyrics and they would then put together a demo track.[11] The band wrote around thirty demos in all.[12] Producing all the music themselves,[13] they recorded 21 tracks in total. The recording process took about five months, with the band working six-hour days, five days a week.[12] The band were approached about the prospect of co-writing songs for the album, but refused; Doherty explained: "As we were making this album, a bunch of people offered to write with us, but we wanted to be an actual band."[8] Cook noted that they wanted the album "to sound and to feel spontaneous".[10]

"Clearest Blue", the seventeenth track recorded for the album, "came to define how the rest sounds", according to Doherty: "big and happy and sad and a banger".[12] The group determined democratically which tracks would be included on the album, and were in disagreement over inclusion of "Afterglow". On the final day of recording they slowed it down, removed the drum track and re-recorded the vocal track.[12] The vocals were recorded in a single take, with various background noises left in. Witnessing Mayberry's performance, Doherty was "quite emotional", and they made the decision that the track would close the album.[13]

Release

On 15 July 2015 at Ottawa Bluesfest, the band debuted the songs "Clearest Blue", "Leave a Trace" and "Make Them Gold" before a live audience.[14]

On 17 July 2015, the band released the first single, "Leave a Trace", along with the formal announcement of the album's title, release date, cover art and track listing.[15] Rolling Stone ranked "Leave a Trace" at number 24 on its annual year-end list to find the best songs of 2015.[16]

On 12 August 2015, the band released the second single, "Never Ending Circles".

On 10 September 2015, the band released the third single, "Clearest Blue".

On 20 September 2015, the album debuted on NPR First Listen.[17][18]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100[19]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[20]
Alternative Press[21]
The A.V. ClubA[22]
Billboard[23]
NME[24]
Pitchfork Media7.7/10[25]
PopMatters7/10[2]
Rolling Stone[26]
Slant Magazine[3]
Spin7/10[27]

Every Open Eye received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 77 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 31 reviews.[19]

Billboard's Carl Wilson's four out of five star review claims: "the sound is cleaner -- there are fewer of the stop-start hitches and processed-vocal effects from Bones -- the beats are more resounding, and the choruses often even more explosive."[23] Emily Mackay of the NME praised the album, calling it "a record like a deep gulp of cold air on a clear, bright morning after."[24] Heather Phares of AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars, writing, "even if Every Open Eye is cheerier-sounding than The Bones of What You Believe, its emotions are just as complex."[20]

NPR's Laura Snapes wrote that the album "fizzes with the jolting electricity that it takes to jump-start a lifeless situation, and wields more razzle-dazzle than Chvrches' debut dared to attempt." The music itself was characterized as "delicious camp and Cyndi Lauper brass pops up alongside quieter moments that only make the stakes seem higher."[28]

Nate Scott of For The Win declared "Clearest Blue" the band's best song to date.[29]

Accolades

Publication Rank List
AbsolutePunk 29 Top 30 Albums of 2015[30]
AllMusic N/A Best Pop Albums of 2015[31]
American Songwriter 12 Top 50 Albums of 2015[32]
Blare 40 The Top 50 Albums of 2015[33]
CraveOnline 18 The 20 Best Albums of 2015[34]
Diffuser 43 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[35]
Entertainment Weekly 26 The 40 Best Albums of 2015[36]
The Guardian 31 The Best Albums of 2015[37]
FasterLouder 48 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[38]
Mashable 15 The 30 Best Albums of 2015[39]
NME 6 NME's Albums Of The Year 2015[40]
Paste 16 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[41]
Pigeons & Planes 33 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[42]
Popjustice 10 The Top 33 Albums of 2015[43]
PopMatters 42 The 80 Best Albums of 2015[44]
Pretty Much Amazing 37 Best 50 Albums of 2015[45]
Q 28 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[46]
The Skinny 21 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[47]
Spin 43 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[48]
7 The 25 Best Pop Albums of 2015[49]
Stereogum 33 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[50]
Treble 25 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[51]
Under the Radar 9 Top 100 Albums of 2015[52]
Variance 20 The 50 Best Albums of 2015[53]

Commercial performance

Every Open Eye debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, selling 15,844 copies in its first week.[54] In the United States, the album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 with 38,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release. Additionally, it debuted at number one on both the Top Rock Albums and the Alternative Albums charts.[55]

Track listing

Standard edition
No.TitleLength
1."Never Ending Circles"3:06
2."Leave a Trace"3:57
3."Keep You on My Side"4:25
4."Make Them Gold"3:51
5."Clearest Blue"3:53
6."High Enough to Carry You Over"3:39
7."Empty Threat"4:04
8."Down Side of Me"5:10
9."Playing Dead"3:35
10."Bury It"3:08
11."Afterglow"3:14
Total length:42:02
Special/deluxe edition bonus tracks[56]
No.TitleLength
12."Get Away"4:40
13."Follow You"3:54
14."Bow Down"4:38
Total length:55:14
German edition bonus track[57]
No.TitleLength
12."Up in Arms"5:08
Total length:47:10
German limited deluxe edition bonus tracks[58]
No.TitleLength
12."Up in Arms"5:08
13."Get Away"4:40
14."Follow You"3:54
15."Bow Down"4:38
Total length:60:22
Target exclusive edition bonus tracks[59]
No.TitleLength
12."Up in Arms"5:08
13."Get Away"4:40
14."Follow You"3:54
15."Bow Down"4:38
16."Leave a Trace" (Live at Pitchfork Music Festival)3:57
17."Clearest Blue" (Live at Pitchfork Music Festival)5:20
Total length:69:39
Japanese edition bonus tracks[60]
No.TitleLength
12."Get Away"4:40
13."Follow You"3:54
14."Bow Down"4:38
15."Leave a Trace" (Four Tet Remix)6:49
Total length:62:03

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic[61] and liner notes.[62]

Charts

References

  1. ^ http://popinsomniacs.com/2015/10/chrvches-every-open-eye-album-review-glittery-gritty-alt-pop/
  2. ^ a b Fitzgerald, Colin (22 September 2015). "CHVRCHES: Every Open Eye". PopMatters. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  3. ^ a b Rainis, James (24 September 2015). "Chvrches: Every Open Eye". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  4. ^ "CHVRCHES - Timeline Photos".
  5. ^ "The Bones of What You Believe – Chvrches". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  6. ^ "CHVRCHES - Clearest Blue (lyric video) - YouTube".
  7. ^ "CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye". Album Of The Year. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Snapes, Laura (22 June 2015). "Keeping it Unreal: In the Studio with Chvrches". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 26 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Jamieson, Sarah (13 August 2015). "Chvrches talk new album: "I was being ridiculous, second-guessing myself all the time"". DIY. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  10. ^ a b Nicholson, Rebecca (20 August 2015). "Chvrches: 'We could have sold 200,000 more records if we hid us boys out of view'". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
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  39. ^ Mashable Staff (15 December 2015). "The 30 Best Albums of 2015". Mashable. Retrieved 16 December 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  40. ^ NME Staff (2 December 2015). "NME's Albums Of The Year 2015". NME. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
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  44. ^ PopMatters Staff (7 December 2015). "The 80 Best Albums of 2015". PopMatters. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
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  46. ^ Q Staff (25 November 2015). "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Q. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
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  51. ^ Treble Staff (14 December 2015). "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Treble. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  52. ^ Under the Radar Staff (16 December 2015). "Top 100 Albums of 2015". Under the Radar. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  53. ^ Variance Staff (4 December 2015). "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Variance. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
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  55. ^ Caulfield, Keith (4 October 2015). "Fetty Wap Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
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  62. ^ Every Open Eye (CD liner notes). Chvrches. Virgin EMI Records. 2015. CDVX 3139.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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