Scottish singer-songwriter Lauren Mayberry’s debut solo album was almost two years in the making, with both a record label reorganization and extended writing sessions factoring in its long germination.
After a year of writing and recording, instinct told her she needed more.
“I kept writing for another six months, and then some of my most favorite songs that made it to the record happened during that time,” Mayberry said on a recent call from her home in Los Angeles. In December, the wait was over: EMI Records released “Vicious Creature,” a collection of a dozen pop gems cowritten by Mayberry and a range of collaborators.
While the announcement that Mayberry was pursuing solo material caused considerable angst among fans of the electronic/synth-pop trio Chvrches (pronounced “churches”), for whom she’s the lead vocalist, supporters can rest assured that the group is on hiatus as members work on other projects. Chvrches signed a new record deal before Mayberry’s announcement and will make music together again soon.
Credit: Photo courtesy EMI Records
Credit: Photo courtesy EMI Records
The break has ensured the future of the band.
“We definitely got to a point where I’m like, we needed to change something or this wasn’t going to exist anymore,” Mayberry acknowledged. “I feel like this was our sabbatical that has proved very healthy and very necessary.”
Mayberry is touring in support of “Vicious Creature” and returns to Atlanta with her band for a show Feb. 20 at the Masquerade. Most recently, Mayberry opened London Grammar’s fall UK tour, and she gave a few acoustic performances there coinciding with the album’s release in December. Backed by a drummer, keyboard player and guitarist/bassist for her North American concerts, the singer will be performing the songs on “Vicious Creature” plus one surprise cover “that feels like it fits with the vibe of the thing.”
That will make the shows short but sweet. “People have been very generous and kind with this whole project,” noted Mayberry, “and I feel like if they’re coming to the show, they know there’s 12 songs.”
The album is a stylistic turn away from Chvrches, as Mayberry intended. Its pure pop bangers (many inspired by the UK pop of her youth) with a few ballads interspersed have drawn positive reviews, with the variety of collaborators bringing diverse touches to her songs.
Take “Sunday Best,” a song cowritten and produced by Greg Kurstin, who has worked with everyone from Adele to Gorillaz to Paul McCartney. It rolls along to Kurstin’s House-style piano part and snappy drums through the verses, which lead to a soaring chorus (“Hold on don’t forget/careful with words left unsaid”). The lyrical theme of searching for brightness in the midst of grief matches the hopefulness throughout.
Kurstin produced much of Chvrches’ third album, “Love is Dead,” but Mayberry found the experience of working with him different in a solo context.
“He’s a very intuitive, empathetic person to work with,” Mayberry said. “He was the first American that I worked with where I said all of the references to him and he got them immediately because he’s worked on so many British records with so many great British artists.”
Other co-writers on “Vicious Creature” include Tobias Jesso Jr. (on first single and wistful ode to homesickness “Are You Awake?”), Griffin Goldsmith from the group Dawes (on the up-tempo “Shame,” which takes on hypocrisy), plus Matthew Koma and Ethan Gruska.
Longtime friend and colleague Dan McDougall cowrote and produced the last four tracks completed for the album.
“There’s a ‘Sliding Doors’ universe where I’m like, ‘Oh man, I wish me and Dan had started writing much earlier than we did,’ and I think the record would feel different for that,” the singer said. “I’m kind of at peace with the fact that the first one had to be very investigatory. I needed the entry level of somebody I knew and felt comfortable with in order to start wanting to make anything, and then it’s good to be pushed out of the nest.”
Credit: Photo by Charlotte Patmore
Credit: Photo by Charlotte Patmore
One of the songs Mayberry and McDougall cowrote is the stunning ballad “Oh, Mother,” the record’s emotional centerpiece. McDougall played the piano part in a writing session and then encouraged Mayberry to move away from an initial lyrical theme about loneliness toward a family matter of Mayberry’s that he knew about. The track is chronological, highlighting her relationship with her mother at various stages of the singer’s life.
“I think the whole song was written top to bottom in about two hours,” said Mayberry, who told McDougall, “Oh, you produced me in that moment!”
The intensely personal nature of the song has made for a tricky transition from studio to live performances. “I think my hit rate’s 50/50 for weeping during it,” admitted Mayberry, referring to her UK acoustic shows with McDougall in December. “I’m touched and moved by people talking about that song specifically, and now I have to go and actually facilitate other people having an experience about this song. Hopefully it’ll be OK.”
“Oh, Mother” is certain to be a highlight at Mayberry’s Masquerade performance as she gears up for a busy year. Soon after this North American run wraps up, she’s headed across the Atlantic to her native UK for a tour that starts in her former home base of Glasgow, Scotland.
The vocalist will enjoy road-testing the songs on “Vicious Creature,” after its long but ultimately satisfying creation.
“I don’t think that any record is a perfect record, especially not a first album,” Mayberry said. “The whole thing for me is almost proving to myself that I have creative value, or creative worth, intrinsically.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Lauren Mayberry
Feb. 20, Hell theater at the Masquerade (all ages show). Doors at 7 p.m. $30 in advance. 75 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta. masqueradeatlanta.com
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