Scotland’s Chvrches have ascended. Before the trio’s sold-out show in Columbus (the largest crowd they’ve played to yet), it was inexplicable how they got so big so fast. The band-curated pre-set playlist gave some clues. With Depeche Mode, Joy Division, and Madonna blaring through the house PA, it was obvious Chvrches are more than acutely attuned to the radio pop that raised them and less with the precious indie motifs of which they are currently compared. Opener The Range gave another hint. The one-man show of intricately layered electronica and crowd-controlling beats had an ominous “guitar-rock is dead” vibe.  The sentiment that the machines have taken over bled into Chvrches’ mesmerizing performance, giving weight to the reality that decades of pop fantasies could be broadcast from the palm of one’s hand.

Still, for such plasticity to survive, there has to be a human element involved. For Chvrches, that’s singer Lauren Mayberry. Her pixie-ish delivery is undercut by thick accents, adding a dimension of gloomy melancholy and a slight affectation that goes straight for the heart when she coos couplets that end in “dirty mind.” The pedigree of Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, Glasgow lifers who have spent time in Aerogramme and touring with The Twilight Sad, respectively, is a lot more present in Chvrches’ music than one would expect. It’s not Arab Strap for the dancefloor, but there are terse textures and subtleties to their music that definitely suggest such a dichotomy. I was unsure how a band like Chvrches, who literally just have to plug in a few synthesizers and drum machines, could command a crowd of thousands outdoors and left to the elements (we’ll get to those in a second), but what they do on record actually translates better in the live setting. All of those intricacies that can only be gleaned through attentive headphone listening are amplified to the nth degree from the stage. Cook and Doherty threw in errant 808 beats and wobbly basslines to beef up the melodies. Every note was crisp and glowed in tandem with Chvrches expert light show. Who knows if  the trio was aiming for the nascent EDM phenomena when they first started writing together, as the focus seems to be on sugary pop songs instead of skittering samples and choreographed drops, but live it appears they’ve embraced that camp. So, to that end, Chvrches’ appeal is two-fold. The nostalgia-craving generation who want to hear manic, post-millennial versions of “Into the Groove” and “Bizarre Love Triangle” get that in the trio’s mammoth hits, “Gun” and “Recover.” And those millennials, who treat concerts more like compact raves, were served pulses of neon and slick seizure-inducing arpeggios culled from 8-bit video games and the Moroder cookbook. With Chvrches, everybody wins.

The rapturous response from the audience was made all the more potent once the rain started to fall. About 30 minutes into the set, it became a storm and at times it appeared mother nature was in on the show, spitting lightning strikes in time with the aptly titled “Night Sky.” Despite the weather, few left the amphitheater and even fewer left the show without some new found respect for Chvrches, who thrived in the spotlight, accumulating a sense of grace and power along the way. If they are the new face of electronic pop, I’m on board.