Love Is Dead is the third studio album by Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches. It was released on 25 May 2018 by Virgin EMI Records and Goodbye Records. The album was co-produced by Greg Kurstin, marking the first time the band have worked with outside producers. The band collaborated with David Stewart from Eurythmics and Matt Berninger from The National during production. The album was announced by Martin Doherty at the start of January 2018, with frontwoman Lauren Mayberry accidentally revealing the album's name in a since-deleted interview that same month. After wiping their social media accounts, the band released the lead single, "Get Out", on 31 January. The track listing for the album was released two days before the next single, "My Enemy", which featured Berninger, was released on 28 February. The third single from the album, "Never Say Die", was released on 29 March. "Miracle" was released as the fourth single on 10 April. The song "Forever" is featured prominently in the third season of the Netflix series Elite.
Background
In September 2015, the band released their second studio album, Every Open Eye, two years after the release of their critically acclaimed debut album, The Bones of What You Believe. It received positive reviews and spawned the singles "Leave a Trace", "Clearest Blue", "Never Ending Circles" and "Empty Threat". Besides releasing the song "Warning Call", cowritten with Solar Fields, for the game Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and releasing a version of "Bury It" with Paramore's Hayley Williams, the band stayed relatively quiet for the rest of the year and the next. On 1 January 2018, Martin Doherty announced that the band would release an album within the year. That same month, Lauren Mayberry "accidentally" confirmed this and revealed the album's title in an interview, which has been since deleted. On 26 February, the band revealed the tracklist to the album on Twitter.
Recording and production
The band started working on Love Is Dead on 7 February 2017 in Los Angeles. In 24 February, David Stewart, formerly one-half of the musical duo Eurythmics, revealed that he was in the studio with the band. Greg Kurstin was revealed as a producer for the album on 12 December, with work nearing completion. According to an article from The Independent, the band opted for more universal topics instead of introspection during production, jotting down ideas in a notebook whenever an opportunity passed.
Musical style
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the band described their work with Kurstin as "the most pop stuff we've done and also the most aggressive and vulnerable at the same time". On Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show, on the premiere of "Get Out", Mayberry said that: She also explained the album would take an "honest" approach.
Promotion
The album's lead single, "Get Out", premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 31 January 2018, where Annie Mac dubbed it the Hottest Record in the World; it was released the same day. The second single, "My Enemy", featuring vocals from Matt Berninger of The National, was named Zane Lowe's World Record when it premiered on Beats 1 in 28 February, after the tracklist and artwork reveal. "Never Say Die" was released on 29 March, the third single from the album. Premiered on BBC Radio 1, "Miracle" was released on 10 April as the fourth and final single. It is the album's only song recorded in the United Kingdom. Prior to the release of "Get Out", and after wiping all of their social media accounts, the band released a short video with a weblink captioned "GET IN", which contained a link that would lead to a Facebook Messenger page made by the band. Furthermore, in the music video for the respective single, alongside Matt Berninger taping an advertisement, a poster advertised a phone number. When called, Mayberry reads part of the lyrics to "My Enemy". Prior to the official release, the band celebrated the upcoming album with a release party by performing live at iHeartRadio Album Release Party in New York City on 22 May. During the show, they debuted some of the new music for the first time, including songs like "God's Plan", "Graffiti" and "Forever".
Commercial performance
Love Is Dead debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart, selling 11,763 copies in its first week.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Love Is Dead.
In support of their new album, Chvrches played live worldwide in the festival circuit and venues between 2018 and 2019. The tour officially started on May 25, 2018, with a free show at House Of Vans in London to celebrate the release of their album, but an early album release party held at iHeartRadio Theatre in New York and other two previous shows are generally considered as part of the tour based on their common setlist and stage design. On December 10, 2019, the band announced the official end of the tour with a message posted on their blog. The band performed in over 20 countries, attending more than 150 events. For the very first time since their formation, the band added a live drummer, Jonny Scott, to their touring lineup.
Setlist
While the played setlist varied slightly with each show, the typical setlist contained:
For the Love is Dead tour, the stage design was created by the lighting designer and programmer Louis Oliver, who has been working with the band since 2013. The idea behind the blueprints was to use a flexible design which could fit any type of show size. "The main request from the band was to have a more performance focused design, with looks that amplified their performance." while avoiding the use of any large video screens. The solution was to create 15 touring lighting pods containing 16 Elation Fuze Par Z120 which allowed them to adapt to each venue's limitations. The lighting setup also included 12 Robe BMFL Wash Beams, 13 GLP JDC1, 2 Base Hazer Pros and 2 grandMA2 Light consoles. The most visible elements of the floor package were three custom-built pieces comprising two crosses and a balancing symbol that mimic the artwork created by Warren Fu for the Love is Dead album cover. The tour crew also included:
