The Singles Jukebox

It’s Fvn Wiith Vowels Tvesday!

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[7.14]

Cassy Gress: I’ve always been a little iffy on Lauren Mayberry’s vocals, because she has a lot of “young girl”-ishness to her voice a little reminiscent of Grimes’ pitch-shifting, except that’s how she actually sounds. She gets quite a bit more oomph this time, on “tell me tell me you’ll meet me/will you meet me more than halfway yeah!” This sounds a lot like “Just Can’t Get Enough” crossed with the synthetic marimba from “Baba O’Riley.”
[7]

Alfred Soto: “Clearest Blue” fights mightily to wring “Just Can’t Get Enough” from its nervous system before saying fuck it and demanding we dance, which a couple thousand did during Chvrches’ Pitchfork Festival performance last summer. Propulsion it’s got, but Lauren Mayberry has less personality than Dave Gahan. That can’t be right.
[6]

Brad Shoup: Mayberry twitches and floats over a bone-dry Depeche Mode arrangement: the track starts with an amphetamine heartrate and slowly draws back. The effect is of a gabba Ellie Goulding demo.
[6]

Iain Mew: Is it just me that sees the title and has my first association driven by the number of Clearblue pregnancy test adverts on TV here? It could definitely fit as something that could shape you and your relationship. Plenty of other things could work too with the vague lyrics, but that’s not really a problem. More than anything else from Every Open Eye, meaning is a lesser concern than tuning up the ultimate progression in increasing intensity. It’s a wonderful exercise in anticipation, in building up the idea that everything hangs in the balance before THE RIFF emerges and it slams into total musical certainty.
[8]

Patrick St. Michel: Sometimes, you have to visualize where a song will have the biggest impact. The first half of “Clearest Blue” is a slog, but the eruption midway through and subsequent burnout sound perfectly built for mid-afternoon at a festival (oh hey). 
[7]

Will Adams: The entire song hinges on the explosion midway through, with either side offering most of what I’ve come to expect from Chvrches: solid electropop that I’m only just content with. The half minute at that hinge, however, is glorious enough to earn an extra point.
[7]

Sonia Yang: It’s not often that a song climaxes after the bulk of the lyrics finish and keeps the momentum going so well, but Chvrches have outdone themselves here. “Clearest Blue” starts with a ripple and builds to a shimmering swell, breaks with a triumphant cry (“will you meet me more than halfway?”), and then immerses the listener in wave after transparent wave. The octaves are a tad predictable, but do nothing to lessen the effect.
[9]