SCOTTISH synth-pop heroes CHVRCHES have made their long-awaited return with new single ‘He Said She Said’.

Debuted on Annie Mac’s Radio 1 show as ‘Hottest Record In The World’,  the track marks the band’s first release in over two years. It was recorded remotely while in lockdown, with Lauren Mayberry and Martin Doherty isolating in Los Angeles and Iain Cook in Glasgow.

Speaking about the track, Lauren Mayberry said “Like everyone, I’ve had a lot of time to think and reflect over the past year; to examine experiences I had previously glossed over or deeply buried. I feel like I have spent a lot of my life (personally and professionally) performing the uncomfortable balancing act that is expected of women and it gets more confusing and exhausting the older I get.

“Be successful but only in the way we want you to be. Speak up for yourself but not so loudly that you steal men’s thunder. Be attractive but only for the benefit of men, and certainly don’t be vain. Strive to be The Hot Sad Girl but don’t actually be sad in a way that’s inconvenient for anyone. Be smart but not smart enough to ask for more than what you’re being given.”

Mayberry continues: “‘He Said She Said’ is my way of reckoning with things I’ve accepted that I know I shouldn’t have. Things I pretended weren’t damaging to me. It was the first song we wrote when we started back up, and the opening line (“He said, You bore me to death”) was the first lyric that came out. All the verse lines are tongue-in-cheek or paraphrased versions of things that have actually been said to me by men in my life. Being a woman is fucking exhausting and it felt better to scream it into a pop song than scream it into the void. After the past year, I think we can all relate to feeling like we’re losing our minds.”

The track marks another evolution in the band’s synth-pop sound with Lauren Mayberry’s biting vocals delivered against pounding beats and keening keyboards. It’s also said to preview a brand new album which we can only assume is slated for arrival in the not too distant future.

Check out the new single below.