#14 - Chvrches - Leave A Trace
We have another J1 alumnus at #14 this year. Chvrches exploded onto the scene and shot all the way up to #5 in 2014 with "The Mother We Share". Make it two albums and two chart appearances for the female-fronted Scottish synthpop trio. And while The Bones Of What You Believe was one of my favorite albums two years ago, I felt a strange sort of disconnect towards Every Open Eye. The album was a commercial and critical success and made it all the way up to #8 on the Billboard 200 while grabbing the top slot in the Alternative and Rock charts along the way. There are a few other tracks I enjoyed on this disc, including "Never Ending Circles" and "Make Them Gold", but for some reason I felt that it was a little too angry for me. Lauren Mayberry has a beautiful voice but she is definitely a feminist freedom fighter, and her rage shines through on several tracks on this album.
Of course, "Leave A Trace" is the angriest of all of them. Mayberry calls it a "middle finger mic drop", and although it starts with a simple and slow synth line, it quickly picks up pace and turns into a no-holds barred anthem about leaving the past behind and moving forward. The line that struck me the hardest was "you talk far too much for someone so unkind". Deep, dark and brooding, the song filled me with a passion and angst unlike any other song on the 2016 Countdown. The video features Mayberry singing in several dark and foggy locations, belting out the anthemic chorus line "take care to bury all that you can, take care to leave a trace of a man". It really is a great song and it rolled all the way through the end of 2015 and into 2016. I am once again eagerly awaiting what comes next for the band.
Title: Leave A Trace
Artist:Chvrches
Album: Every Open Eye
Previous 14s
2015: Spoon - New York Kiss
2014: Weird Al Yankovic - A) Foil; B) Handy
2013: Atlas Genius - If So
2012: Metric - Clone
2011: Crystal Castles - Not In Love (ft Robert Smith)
2010: Nevermore - Moonrise (Through Mirrors of Death)
2009: Red - Out From Under
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