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Sep 24, 2013She, Doherty, and multi-instrumentalist Iain Cook have crafted one of the year’s best albums, which means that buzz won’t be dying down any time soon.
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Sep 23, 2013At a focused 48-minutes, The Bones of What You Believe comes soaring through and makes its difficult for you not to press replay when it all fades out.
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Sep 23, 2013Simply put, they’ve evolved from a hype band to something much more coveted: a great band.
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Sep 17, 2013As twelve equally matched moments of varied tone but consistent brilliance, it's nothing short of exactly what was expected--the start of something even bigger.
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Alternative PressSep 12, 2013Even more devastation stems fro Iain Cook and Martin Doherty's sophisticated and catchy layers of synthesizers and vocal loops. [Oct 2013, p.82]
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Sep 12, 2013The Bones Of What You Believe is an exceptionally strong debut where every track is a potential single.
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Nov 21, 2013The Scottish trio aren't trying to subvert anything on debut long-player The Bones of What You Believe, churning out hard-driving and utterly undeniable electro-pop, and the hooks arrive absolutely relentless.
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Sep 25, 2013For now, on record, Chvrches know how go big on an intimate scale, to remind us of the stuff that keeps us living.
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Sep 23, 2013CHVRCHES have constructed a debut record that will not lose its luster with each successive spin, and proven that they have the substance to remain aloft as their cosmic kin come crashing down to Earth.
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Q MagazineOct 11, 2013All told it's a captivating listen that's proudly individualistic, heart-warmingly intelligent and beautifully intonated. [Nov 2013, p.102]
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MojoOct 11, 2013A bold and encouraging modern pop debut. [Nov 2013, p.90]
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Oct 11, 2013The Bones of What You Believe is one of the most unabashedly sincere works of indie pop.
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Sep 30, 2013It might not represent a radical new kind of futurism, but at its yearning, technicolor best The Bones of What You Believe captures the sound of pop music working out how to use the recent past to move slowly but surely again into the future.
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Sep 24, 2013belt. Even when Chvrches are just competently mopey, their neon-Eighties visions are far from retro pose-striking.
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Sep 24, 2013CHVRCHES' debut is at its best on its revenge tunes.
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Sep 23, 2013All told, while not every track has the immediacy of 'Lies' or 'Recover', there's not a weak one among them.
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Sep 23, 2013There's a disarming emotional directness to The Bones of What You Believe that makes it a unique, fully realized take on a style that seemed close to being played out.
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Sep 23, 2013This album shimmers.
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Sep 20, 2013Those who care not to pay much attention to lyrics might just find themselves bawling on the dancefloor without quite knowing why, as these earworm tunes form a perfect delivery system for the heartbreak (and occasionally a little vengeance) contained at their very core.
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Sep 18, 2013There’s no denying that the band has released a fully coherent statement.
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Sep 17, 2013A soundtrack for life’s glorious heights and crumbling nadirs.
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Under The RadarSep 12, 2013"You Caught the Light" is the slowest and longest song on the album, and not representative of the band's strengths--a fine but still curious conclusion to an otherwise glorious debut. [Aug-Sep 2013, p.89]
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Sep 12, 2013The Bones of What You Believe hits so many high notes with its surprisingly simplistic delivery that it’s impossible not to recommend to even the most jaded of listeners. Yes it is at times sickly sweet, but that’s part of the charm.
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Entertainment WeeklySep 27, 2013While their debut doesn't always maintain those kinds of highs [as singles Recover or Lies], it still provides plenty of charmingly straightforward indie-disco pleasures. [4 Oct 2013, p.64]
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Sep 24, 2013This record should do the trick for everyone.
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Oct 2, 2013Chvrches and Mayberry have a weirdly mannered way with smartly penned romanticism.
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Sep 24, 2013It's questionable whether Chvrches' sound can survive and stretch any further for future material, but for the time being, The Bones of What You Believe is an impressive slate of sonic pleasures from a young band still experimenting with a room full of synths.
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Sep 24, 2013The songs here are cohesive but never awkwardly uniform.
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Sep 23, 2013It may have taken a while for The Bones Of What You Believe to arrive, but it more than meets the standards of all the tantalizing sneak previews.
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Sep 23, 2013The synthesizers gleam with artificial precision; so, at first, do the vocals, chopped into perfectly pitched samples over a majestic beat and swirling major chords. But then a human factor kicks in.
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UncutSep 12, 2013While their pristine sound lacks grit, in lyrical terms the troubled "Lies" and "The Mother We Share" show the Chvrches are blessed with hidden depths. [Oct 2013, p.64]
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Sep 26, 2013They write very strong songs, but aural satiation sinks in over Bones‘ 48 minute runtime.
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Oct 11, 2013These singles are still some of the best music being put out today, but the filler songs are so forgettable that it's hard to see the forest through the trees.
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Sep 23, 2013There's enough crunch to their hooky electropop to dispel accusations of unwarranted hype.
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Sep 23, 2013It is powerful but blunt electronic pop; hooks always aimed to tear, melodrama at an uncomfortable volume. Still it often works.
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Dec 17, 2013The Bones of What You Believe loses steam quickly, leaving nothing new that approaches the promise of the group’s early releases.
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Sep 23, 2013While the album has its fair share of sweet spots, the handful of capable melodies never quite balances out its bizarre impulses or the utter lack of thematic unity.
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Sep 20, 2013It is hard to care too much about something this safe.
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Sep 27, 2013It’s merely average, one likely to fade into memory once the buzz dies down and the fire goes out.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 225 out of 241
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Mixed: 10 out of 241
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Negative: 6 out of 241
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Sep 26, 2013
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Sep 24, 2013
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Sep 26, 2013