Chvrches have spent the past several years exploring separate creative avenues, but their return as a unit is taking an unusually close-quarters form. On October 27, the Scottish trio gathered one hundred people inside Assumption Studios, a converted church in Glasgow where they recorded their upcoming fifth album. Mobile phones were banned at the door, ensuring that the first live airing of eight unreleased tracks remained strictly within the room. By the end of the fourteen-song set, the band had not only previewed a substantial portion of their next project, but also brought Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil on stage for an unannounced appearance.
That private gathering sets the stage for Overthinker, the second single to arrive from their forthcoming record, All The King’s Men. Arriving ahead of the full album release on January 22, the track marks a noticeable turn away from the outward focus of earlier single Roses. Here, Lauren Mayberry concentrates on domestic tensions and the quiet friction that builds up within family life. Her lyrics examine the unsteady boundary between comfort and conflict, treating another person as both shelter and storm while questioning how much complete honesty a relationship can handle. Between lines about keeping quiet, deflecting awkward inquiries about personal well-being, and wondering how someone managed to raise such a chronic overthinker, the track establishes an uneasy, private mood that stands apart from much of the band's past work.
The Glasgow performance offered an initial test of how these themes play out on stage. Alongside live outings for Roses and Overthinker, Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty ran through five other new selections: Heaven/Hell, Three Out of Five, Friend of a Friend, Comedown Tomorrow, and Evil. Neil then joined the group to contribute to two additional unreleased tracks, Jamie’s Prayer and Faith In Flying, before the musicians teamed up on an acoustic rendition of Biffy Clyro’s 2007 song Machines.
All The King’s Men is the band's first full-length effort since 2021's Screen Violence, closing an interval of nearly six years. The core of the record came together during concentrated three-week writing sessions in Glasgow, periods the trio used to rethink their song arrangements while considering the broader history and culture of Scotland and Britain. The tracklist will also include Conman, an unreleased piece the group first aired at London's Royal Albert Hall earlier this year during Robert Smith’s Teenage Cancer Trust concert series. Both Doherty and drummer Jonny Scott have pointed to the new material as the most fearless work Chvrches have recorded.
That sense of momentum comes on the heels of a long stretch of outside work for all three members. Since the release of Screen Violence, the musicians each took time to pursue independent interests. Mayberry unveiled her debut solo album, Vicious Creatures, in December 2024. Cook teamed up with Scott Paterson, formerly of Sons & Daughters, to release music as Protection in 2022. Doherty worked with touring drummer Jonny Scott earlier this year to start The Leaving, a project drawing directly from rave music.
The group will play another low-profile show in London on October 29 before turning their focus toward a much larger schedule. A full headline tour across North America, the UK, and Ireland is set to begin early next year. The North American leg starts in Philadelphia in February, with stops in Washington, Chicago, and Los Angeles across the month, before the trio return for UK and Ireland dates throughout April and May, including a night at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on May 6.
