Chvrches return with dark, politically-charged new single ‘Roses’ and intimate Glasgow and London shows: “Now we can start”

Chvrches have shared their comeback single ‘Roses’ and announced two intimate UK shows – find all the details below.

• READ MORE: How trauma and friendship launched new Chvrches project The Leaving: “This was always supposed to happen”

The band have officially shared their first new material in five years with the dark, industrial sounding anthem.

The politically charged song is a far cry from the anthemic disco-pop of their previous album 2021’s ‘Screen Violence‘ with frontwoman Lauren Mayberry snarling: “Raise a glass to delusions of the good days of blood and wine; of pearls for swine” before it gives way to a choral chorus and the Orwellian closing announcement: “If I may command your undivided attention, now we can start.”

The video, which you can view below, also sees the Chvrches frontwoman sporting a new goth look as she sings the track in front of a crashed car alongside a knight’s shining armour.

The band have also announced two intimate secret shows in their hometown of Glasgow on October 26 and London on October 29. Fans can enter the chance to win tickets here with all proceeds going to charity.

“This is the longest break we had ever taken between albums and when we got together to write new music, we wanted to really push ourselves and not be retreading ground we’d walked before,” said Mayberry.

“I really think we achieved that. It feels like the most coherent vision we’ve had as a band. We’re excited to be back..”

It comes months after the band debuted another new song, ‘Conman’, during their set at Robert Smith’s Teenage Cancer Trust’s Royal Albert Hall gig series.

That track also opened with a pulsing, industrial bass, as Mayberry sang: “A man made for the microphone fills my pockets full of stones / All of his wives, all of his nine lives dance on the edge of a knife.”

Last summer, Chvrches first told fans that they had started work on a new album, and earlier this year, the band’s Martin Doherty and Jonny Scott told NME what fans could expect from the project.

“It’s going to surprise people, and I hope it’s going to delight them and rip some faces off,” Doherty revealed, also adding that it was 90 per cent complete. “It’s quite hard, but not to the point where you won’t recognise the band. It’s still the same people and DNA.”

In the years since their last album, Mayberry dropped her debut solo LP ‘Vicious Creatures’ in December 2024, which was given a three-star review from NME. “Mayberry is indeed on her own path of solo discovery, and that leaves plenty of room to be excited about what lies on the road ahead as she digs even deeper into her solo artistry,” we wrote.

She has also joined forces with IDLES‘ Joe Talbot, Death Cab For Cutie, and The National‘s Aaron Dessner. The latter saw them record a cover of Frightened Rabbit‘s ‘Who’d Kill You Now?’ for ‘Tiny Changes’ – a commemorative tribute album for the band’s late frontman Scott Hutchinson.

Doherty and Scott launched their rave-indebted project The Leaving earlier this year, which was formed after they both found themselves living in Los Angeles, going through difficult times.

As for bandmate Iain Cook, he shared a remix of The Cranberries’ 1993 track ‘Linger’ in 2024, and in 2022 teamed up with Scott Paterson formerly of Sons & Daughters, to launch the project Protection.

The post Chvrches return with dark, politically-charged new single ‘Roses’ and intimate Glasgow and London shows: “Now we can start” appeared first on NME.