Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry Reviews New Karen O Album Crush Songs

Chvrches photo by David Sampson

Before she was in Chvrches, singer Lauren Mayberry was a journalist herself. Now, she’s contributed a review of Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Karen O‘s new solo album Crush Songs to The Talkhouse, the music website for artist-on-artist criticism founded by music journalist Michael Azerrad (Our Band Could Be Your Life). The album is out this week.

Mayberry compared Crush Songs to her favorite things about Yeah Yeah Yeahs:

With the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I have always loved O’s juxtaposition of tough, sexy “don’t fuck with me” songs (“Date with the Night”) with vulnerable, heartbreaking ones (“Maps”) and this contrast is on Crush Songs as well—songs like “Rapt,” “Day Go By” and “Comes the Night” manage to be lustful and sad at the same time.

She wrote about the record’s theme of love:

Crushes start out as that teenage phenomenon, life-affirming and cute, but as you wander into adulthood, they seem to end up more painful, harrowing and uncertain, especially if you have just come out of the relationship you thought would finally, maybe, maybe be the one that stuck. We all like to believe we are completely self-sufficient but at the end of it all, we’re all searching for a human connection, something to make it all feel a bit more worthwhile. Albums like Crush Songs, that manage to evoke these sentiments in a way that isn’t sickly, cringe-worthy or trite, are always my favourite kind.

Read the full review here. Earlier this year, Mayberry reviewed a Warpaint album and a Dum Dum Girls album for the Talkhouse, while last year, she contributed an editorial about online sexism to The Guardian.

The Talkhouse has previously featured Lou Reed on Yeezus, St. Vincent on Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig on Drake, and more

Read our interview with Chvrches and watch the band play “Recover” via Pitchfork.tv:

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