Biography
Lauren Mayberry foregrounds raw emotion and her luminous soprano throughout her work, both within Chvrches and apart from the group. As one of three members in Chvrches she shaped a signature fusion of vintage synth-pop structures with modern electronic textures across the anthemic 2013 release The Bones of What You Believe, which reached the U.K. Top Ten, and the incisive 2021 album Screen Violence. Working solo, she lent her expressive voice to recordings with Death Cab for Cutie and the National’s Aaron Dessner, then issued the starkly personal piano ballad “Are You Awake?” in 2023, a track that departed sharply from the band’s established sound. On the 2024 album Vicious Creature she examined feminist perspectives while moving freely across punk and pop palettes.
She began studying piano during childhood in Thornhill, Stirling, Scotland, and later took up drums in her teens. After completing an undergraduate law degree at the University of Strathclyde and a master’s in journalism, she performed with Boyfriend/Girlfriend, whose releases included the 2007 EP Kill Music and the 2008 EP Optimism, as well as with Blue Sky Archives, which issued a version of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” alongside three EPs. During sessions for the 2012 Triple A-Side EP she encountered producer Iain Cook, who asked her to record vocals for a new project he was developing with Martin Doherty, then a touring member of Twilight Sad. The collaboration became Chvrches; their debut album The Bones of What You Believe entered the U.K. chart at number nine and later earned gold certification there, while also reaching the Top 20 in Canada, Australia, and the United States. Its single “The Mother We Share” appeared on charts in the U.S., Japan, Belgium, and the U.K., where it reached the Top 40.
Following sexist remarks aimed at Mayberry, she addressed the issue in a September 2013 Guardian article; her broader advocacy encompassed founding the feminist collective TYCI and supporting Rape Crisis Glasgow and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. Chvrches’ 2015 album Every Open Eye and the 2018 album Love Is Dead, the latter leaning further into pop, both entered the U.K. Top Ten. In 2018 she joined Death Cab for Cutie on the Thank You for Today song “Northern Lights.” The next year she partnered with Aaron Dessner for a cover of Frightened Rabbit’s “Who’d You Kill Now?” featured on the tribute collection Tiny Changes honoring the late Scott Hutchinson. She rejoined Chvrches for the 2021 album Screen Violence, which reached the U.K. Top Five, and the 2023 single “Over.” That August she appeared on a remix of Death Cab for Cutie’s “An Arrow in the Wall,” and weeks later released her first solo single, the introspective “Are You Awake?” During accompanying shows she performed Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” alongside original material spanning pop-punk and 1980s-style pop.
For her debut album Mayberry reunited with Love Is Dead producer Greg Kurstin and also collaborated with Matthew Korma and Tobias Jesso, Jr., crafting songs that wove subversive feminist ideas with influences from the musical Chicago and artists ranging from All Saints to Tori Amos. The resulting album Vicious Creature arrived in December 2024.
She began studying piano during childhood in Thornhill, Stirling, Scotland, and later took up drums in her teens. After completing an undergraduate law degree at the University of Strathclyde and a master’s in journalism, she performed with Boyfriend/Girlfriend, whose releases included the 2007 EP Kill Music and the 2008 EP Optimism, as well as with Blue Sky Archives, which issued a version of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” alongside three EPs. During sessions for the 2012 Triple A-Side EP she encountered producer Iain Cook, who asked her to record vocals for a new project he was developing with Martin Doherty, then a touring member of Twilight Sad. The collaboration became Chvrches; their debut album The Bones of What You Believe entered the U.K. chart at number nine and later earned gold certification there, while also reaching the Top 20 in Canada, Australia, and the United States. Its single “The Mother We Share” appeared on charts in the U.S., Japan, Belgium, and the U.K., where it reached the Top 40.
Following sexist remarks aimed at Mayberry, she addressed the issue in a September 2013 Guardian article; her broader advocacy encompassed founding the feminist collective TYCI and supporting Rape Crisis Glasgow and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. Chvrches’ 2015 album Every Open Eye and the 2018 album Love Is Dead, the latter leaning further into pop, both entered the U.K. Top Ten. In 2018 she joined Death Cab for Cutie on the Thank You for Today song “Northern Lights.” The next year she partnered with Aaron Dessner for a cover of Frightened Rabbit’s “Who’d You Kill Now?” featured on the tribute collection Tiny Changes honoring the late Scott Hutchinson. She rejoined Chvrches for the 2021 album Screen Violence, which reached the U.K. Top Five, and the 2023 single “Over.” That August she appeared on a remix of Death Cab for Cutie’s “An Arrow in the Wall,” and weeks later released her first solo single, the introspective “Are You Awake?” During accompanying shows she performed Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” alongside original material spanning pop-punk and 1980s-style pop.
For her debut album Mayberry reunited with Love Is Dead producer Greg Kurstin and also collaborated with Matthew Korma and Tobias Jesso, Jr., crafting songs that wove subversive feminist ideas with influences from the musical Chicago and artists ranging from All Saints to Tori Amos. The resulting album Vicious Creature arrived in December 2024.
Albums
Singles
