We wanted to make sure the creative and narrative came directly from the band, with certain topics being quite personal to singer Lauren Mayberry specifically. We focussed on relevant cultural themes such as experimental ideas creating alternate realities, indie gaming and future communities to inspire our creative thinking around the campaign.

The official accompanying videos for these singles formed a lo-fi, nostalgic, and analogue-inspired trilogy directed by multi-disciplinary artist Scott Kiernan. Formatting wise, we made bespoke physical product for different markets as well as coloured vinyl, O-Card versions, cassettes and Obi-Strips that all sold out ahead of album release. We also created a deepfake video trailer using archival footage of horror films and placing the band’s faces on the characters using deep fake technology to comment on the advancement in technology and how we can all be manipulated online.

We took the core themes and pillars of the record and distorted the lens in which fans and audiences consume CHVRCHES’ music. We used the band’s social channels, mailing lists and huge databases collected over the years to engage in the narrative of the record. We also used our traditional ways to reach audiences via key radio, press and TV support globally.

To tease the album, we started with thematic playlists that were connected to the themes of the record, and from films and albums that inspired their new album. The band then started a Letterboxd account and used this to hint at new music to come by creating watch lists of films they were inspired by. To hint at collaborators and featured artist Robert Smith as well as composer John Carpenter whom they exchanged remixes with, the band unfollowed everyone on their band accounts and only followed these icons.

We took these ideas into promotional assets for the album, with a film poster being the main announcement asset of the band for single launches and album announcement. The band’s interest in horror films acted as inspiration for many other facets of the campaign such as merch ideas, a ‘zine and a curated film night of Videodrome at a Rio Cinema in London to mark the release of their album at midnight. This also became a consistent content theme throughout the band’s first foray into TikTok as a platform, tapping into the network of film aficionados on the platform and weaving this into trends that suited the campaign’s narrative. We also reflected this across DSPs and platforms such as YouTube where we made playlists, engaged with fans and created spaces for comments and discourse with the band directly.

On the day of album release in LA where the band were all together, they teamed up with production company D-V-8 and Amazon Music to stream a live show from the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever cemetery. This was streamed on Twitch globally and had over 10,000 people watching this unique and intimate experience.

One of our early ambitions was to help create a cinematic universe for the band and the album to live in. Creative Agency All Of It Now worked closely with CHVRCHES to create this ambitious experience for Splendour in the Grass in Australia by creating a VR stage production in Unreal Engine. AOIN thrives at the technological intersection of connecting people and content in wonderful ways and this was a brilliant example of how CHVRCHES also sit in that intersection of tech, audiences and culture.

With Halloween approaching and the goal to ensure the album’s growth continued post album release, we plotted out an aptly named Director’s Cut edition of the album which came out on 29th October, just in time for the “festivities”.