After more than a decade at the helm of synth-pop success story Chvrches, Lauren Mayberry has spoken of wanting her solo project to be a retort to being reduced to “a girl in a band”; an opportunity to indulge in the femininity and play that operating in a male-dominated environment never allowed her.
The best bits of this debut solo LP are where this sense of fun and freedom combines with a clap back to those conditions. Previous single Change Shapes is a bubbling pop nugget with a freewheeling payoff that critiques the need to change in order to fit in, while Sorry, Etc runs on brittle punk energy as Mayberry snarls: “I sold my soul to be one of the boys.”
Vicious Creature shapeshifts frequently, often into realms that feel wilfully unbothered about current notions of “cool”. Crocodile Tears is so 1980s it should come with an obligatory tight perm, while Sunday Best is a hands-in-the-air nod to All Saints’ Pure Shores. Anywhere But Dancing tends to plod, but as a whole, Mayberry the solo artist is a strong testament to honouring the entirety of yourself.
