“Clearest Blue” by CHVRCHES

"Clearest Blue" was the third single from Every Open Eye, Chvrches' second album, in 2015, and it didn't turn out the way the Scottish trio planned. Martin Doherty and Iain Cook have said it was meant to be a laid-back thing on two chords, but the band are hopeless at following their own rules. Doherty sang placeholder gibberish to map out the rhythm, and Lauren Mayberry wrote words to replace it, worried all the while that her pessimism would leak into the parts meant to sound hopeful.

Most listeners hear it as a slow build to a huge release; Doherty prefers to call it a moment of rest. The band produced it, David Robert Simpson recorded it and Mark "Spike" Stent mixed it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.