CHVRCHES can already claim one of the year’s catchiest synth-pop songs, and now their task, if they want it, is to demonstrate they’re a band worth following for the long run. If you haven’t heard the Scottish trio’s earworm “Recover,” you should still start there, but the Pitchfork-premiered video for fellow Recover EP cut “Now Is Not the Time” is similarly beguiling.
The setting is a roller-skating rink, and it’s unclear why couple-skating doesn’t break out to the slow-burning ballad, which floats Lauren Mayberry’s Purity Ring- or High Places-like coo over crisp snare thwacks and evocatively melancholy synths that could fit just as easily on songs by Robyn, Sky Ferreira, or Solange. The song insists this isn’t the time for love, but the pirouetting, neon-splashed skaters here should take the hint and partner up.
Find out more about CHVRCHES in SPIN’s 5 Best New Artists for March ’13, and check out the sci-fi “Recover” video here.
