Chvrches: Death Stranding song made Hideo Kojima cry

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Chvrches with Hideo Kojima at his office in TokyoImage source, Hideo Kojima/Twitter
Image caption,

Chvrches visited Hideo Kojima in Tokyo to get a feel for the game

As big gaming fans, Chvrches say they received "dream feedback" from Hideo Kojima after he heard their track for his new game, Death Stranding.

"He said it made him cry," Iain Cook tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

The song - also called Death Stranding - is an electronic epic, written specifically for the end of the game.

Fellow band member Martin Doherty said: "He wanted us to go and write a song in our style, something that's a quintessential Chvrches song.

"Lauren worked on the theme lyrically, I think expertly, because it stands alone as a Chvrches record - but it is also deeply connected to the game."

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The band were able to watch the legendary Metal Gear Solid creator play through the first part of his new game, which was released on Friday.

"That was really important to soak in the atmosphere of the game and get a sense of what it looked like and what it felt like," says Iain.

"When we went to write, it came about quite quickly and quite naturally."

It's not the first time the band have written songs for a game, but the process was much different for this track.

"It's usually several calls and every single person needs to be satisfied. It's not really an enjoyable experience," Martin says.

"But because Kojima has creative autonomy, it was as simple as him saying 'This is everything that I wanted, let's move on'. We really enjoyed that.

"Personally, it's my favourite thing that we've ever done."

Image caption,

Chvrches signed the office wall at Kojima Productions studio in Tokyo

That creative autonomy is something that Newsbeat witnessed during the filming of our documentary Death Stranding: Inside Kojima Productions.

Martin and Iain were fans of the Metal Gear series long before Chvrches even formed. For the record, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is their favourite.

However, it was all quite new for lead singer Lauren Mayberry.

"I wasn't really a gamer when I was growing up," she says. "Sometimes I can find that world quite hard to understand, or not relatable.

"This game felt a lot more human than normal gaming. It's encouraging connection, and community, and working together on something and thinking about the wider world."

Media caption,

Death Stranding: A reaction to 'Trump and Brexit'

With just a handful of dates of their current tour left, Death Stranding will be the band's last song of 2019 - but a new album is in the works.

"We're definitely doing it, I think that's been agreed," Lauren tells us.

Fans might be left waiting a while though.

"I think trying to find a bit of balance to have a life, as well as being obsessed with the band - which is fine - is very, very important at this point in our career," says Martin.

Estimating when we might get to hear something new, Lauren tells us: "Not two months, but not six years."

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