After an extended hiatus, acclaimed synth-pop trio Chvrches are back – and they’re shining a new light on an indie classic. The Scottish band have released a stunning take on The Postal Service’s track “Such Great Heights,” appearing in the third season finale of psychological drama Tell Me Lies (Hulu/Disney+), closing out the show’s emotional narrative arc.
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Comprising singer Lauren Mayberry and multi-instrumentalists Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, Chvrches have made a significant musical contribution to Tell Me Lies, also delivering a rendition of Rober Palmer’s “Addicted To Love” for the third season premiere. As Mayberry tells Billboard U.K. in an exclusive interview, the band have a “genuine love” for the show and jumped at the opportunity to get involved.
“It was such a treat to get to make music for the season premiere and the season finale of this show,” said Mayberry. “Bookending the insanity and the heartbreak of the season three arc was an honour. ‘Such Great Heights’ is basically a perfect song so we were excited and terrified to cover it in equal measure. The Postal Service is such a special band and their music means a lot to us.”
Prior to the final episode airing airing on Hulu, showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer confirmed that the show was concluding with season three. “This was always the ending my writing team and I had in mind, and we are insanely proud of it,” she wrote on her Instagram.
As a solo act, Mayberry shares a unique bond with The Postal Service, having been one of their tour supports for the North America 2023 co-headline shows with Death Cab For Cutie. She reflected on this experience in a Trackstar* street interview last summer, describing how elated she was to watch them perform night after night.
Chvrches’ last full-length effort, meanwhile, arrived in the form of 2021 horror-infused LP Screen Violence – which landed at No. 4 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart upon release. Mayberry told Billboard U.K. that new material is in the pipeline, with a “fun and ferocity that feels new” for the band. Before then, they’ll return to the stage next month (Mar. 27) by opening up for pioneering shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Here, Mayberry discusses her Tell Me Lies fandom, the process behind covering “Such Great Heights”, and the exciting plans on the horizon for Chvrches.
How did the opportunity to record this song come about?
A friend of mine [Liz Elverenli] joined the show as a writer for season three. One day out of the blue, she texted me from the set asking if we would be interested in doing some music for the season premiere. Apparently they were talking on set about cover songs and artists that would potentially connect with the viewing demographic and when our name came up, she was like, ‘I know [Lauren]! She loves the show!”
She put me in touch with Meaghan Oppenheimer, the showrunner, and we talked on the phone about what they were looking for and it all grew from there. I had to try hard not to fangirl Meaghan too hard – it’s crazy to me that such a lovely, warm person can write such a twisted, demented show. A woman of layers.
Why do you feel that this song and your cover suited the show and these closing scenes?
I think having a genuine love for the show put me in a good position to know what I would want the pay off of that final scene to feel like, from a fan’s perspective. For a show that is so full of twists, they did somehow still manage to save some doozies for the last episode.
As much as she makes some very ill-advised decisions, I do have a lot of empathy for Lucy and why she acts the way she does. I think this season really shows the longer term damage that is done by those kinds of relationships – at any age but especially when someone is so young.
The fact the college sections are set in 2008 and 2009 feels poignant to me. I was at university at that time too, and there was no dialogue around “toxic” relationships in the way there is now. I was thinking about that and trying to bring that personal experience to my delivery when we recorded. I always liked the balance of joy and melancholy in the Postal Service’s music.
What are your earliest memories of hearing the Postal Service?
My bandmate at the time lent me his copy of Give Up as an example of good girl-boy vocal sharing for us to try and emulate and I fell in love with the album. I loved basically everything in Jenny [Lewis] and Ben [Gibbard]’s individual cinematic universes, so them combined was a no-brainer.
One of the first US festivals Chvrches played was Sasquatch [in George, Washington] in 2013. The Postal Service were playing as part of the ten year anniversary of the record, and it felt like every other band on the line-up stayed to watch. We toured with Death Cab [For Cutie] a couple of years after that, and then I did some solo shows opening on the Transatlanticism / Give Up 20th anniversary tour, so there is quite a lot of overlap between our musical worlds and it felt poignant to get to do a version of this song.
I did email Ben about it to make sure they wouldn’t find it weird and so that he didn’t think we were being creepy. He was characteristically lovely about it, of course.
Why did you fall in love with the Postal Service and their music?
Ben and Jenny are probably two of my favourite lyricists of all time. I just love how they tell stories. There’s such lore and romance to how the record was made too. It’s really inspiring to see musicians try new things and step outside of what they are already known for. That kind of freedom and fearlessness when it comes to creativity is something I am really drawn to, but probably too chickensh–t to try. Bring back supergroups, man. We need more Boygeniuses!
How do you bring a song into your world when you’re recording a cover?
It’s always a challenge to find the balance of keeping certain aspects of the original that feel essential to the DNA of the song, and trying to bring your own sauce to it. “Such Great Heights” is basically a perfect pop song and I don’t know how one would ever top that, so we just tried to be respectful and faithful to it.
I like to sit with the lyrics when we’re doing a cover and think about what story they’re telling and what they mean to me. Sometimes you can know a song insanely well and still be sort of surprised by what the lyrics really mean, when you look at them written down and out of context – and playing a song is quite different to just listening to it.
What else is going on in Chrvches’ world? Is a new album on the way?
We are pretty close to finishing the new album, yes. We recorded these covers during the studio sessions for the record, actually. I don’t want to give too much away too early but we all feel really good about what we’re making. There’s a fun and ferocity to it that feels new for us. I’m excited for people to hear it.
You’re supporting My Bloody Valentine at the Royal Albert Hall next month (Mar. 27). Is that something of a ‘pinch-me’ moment?
We are really looking forward to that show. It’s a charity event for the Teenage Cancer Trust, curated by Robert Smith, and it will be the first Chvrches show in three years, which feels crazy to say.
It’s a “stripped back” set but we’re definitely going to make sure it still slams. We can’t open for My Bloody Valentine on acoustic guitars, you know? We all love the band so much and want to do right by them, and the charity.
