Chvrches, Royal Albert Hall London, gig review: Glasgow trio add potency to sugar-coated synthpop

The next step for Lauren Mayberry and co is to bridge the disconnect with fans

(Danny Clinch)

As a synthesized wall of sound blasts from the speakers and Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry bounds, pirouettes and, at one point, thumps the Royal Albert Hall stage like it was an internet troll, you’re struck by the potency added to the Glasgow trio’s sugar-coated synthpop.

Across their million-selling debut The Bones of What you Believe and last year’s ante upping Every Open Eye, Chvrches’ indebtedness to 80’s electronic giants like Depeche Mode is obvious - exhilarating closer “Clearest Blue” reimagines “I Just Can’t Get Enough” for the snapchat generation - but tonight’s chartbusting highlights are just as much Gaga as Gahan.

So it’s strange given the stadium-filling nature of “Never Ending Circles” and “Empty Threat” that the unadulterated mania of pop fandom is oddly missing from a subdued crowd. For Chvrches, bridging that disconnect is the next step on their upward trajectory.