Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry has joined forces with IDLES‘ Joe Talbot on a rowdy new version of her track ‘Sorry, Etc, Etc’.
The new version of the song – which appears as ‘Sorry, Etc’ on Mayberry’s 2024 debut solo album ‘Vicious Creature’ – opens with Talbot’s deep raspy voice singing: “I killed myself to be one of the boys / I lost my head to be one of the boys / I bit my tongue to be one of the boys / I sold my soul to be one of the boys”.
Mayberry and Talbot’s voices fuse together during the song’s chorus and bridge, combining the later’s harsh and jagged vocals with the Chvrches frontwoman’s soft and pretty sound.
Speaking about the collaboration in a press release, Mayberry shared: “If you know me, you know how much I love Idles, so it really is an honor to have reinterpreted this song with Joe. We first connected during Covid when I did his Balley TV YouTube series, and have been quietly supportive of each other from the wings since.
“I messaged Joe last summer about working together and this is the song we decided on. We recorded his vocals in December at Brighton Electric when Idles had a night off on tour. I re-recorded my (screamier) vocals at home before Christmas with Sam Stewart, and was produced by my friend Paul Gallagher.”
Talbot added: “An honour and a joy to work with Lauren finally. I love the album and I’m happy to be a part of it. Fuck the king, she’s the king x”.
In a three-star NME review of ‘Vicious Creature’, Hollie Geraghty wrote: “With ‘Vicious Creature’ Mayberry attempts to make sense of all the things she “couldn’t or wouldn’t write in the band”, as she shared with NME.”
“Within that safe space, she discovers a spectrum of previously unexplored emotions with free rein to play outside the boundaries of Chvrches’ electronic soundscapes.”
On going solo after a decade’s worth of music with Chvrches, Mayberry told NME in 2023: “For any frontperson in a band, but especially a woman, as soon as you say the words ‘solo material’ people get very upset with you. I feel like every second sentence is, ‘I’m not breaking up the band, guys, however…’”
“But we’re lucky enough to have fans that care so much that they don’t want it to break up. I feel grateful, but I’m trying to be reassuring to them – ‘Just give us a couple more years guys, it’s going to be fine’.” The band last released ‘Screen Violence’ in 2021.
Later this month, Mayberry is set to embark on a run of six headline shows around the UK, which will kick off with a hometown show at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on March 20.
Dates in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds will follow, before the run wraps up at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on March 26. You can visit here to purchase tickets.
Lauren Mayberry’s ‘Vicious Creature’ UK tour dates are:
MARCH
20 – Glasgow, Scotland – Barrowland Ballroom
21 – Edinburgh, Scotland – La Belle Angele
23 – Birmingham, England – O2 Academy 2
24 – Manchester, England – Academy 2
25 – Leeds, England – Brudenell Social Club
26 – London, England – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire