Scotland-based Chvrches is a prototypical band for the pop music landscape we currently live in.

In addition to its name, both classically Gothic and SEO-friendly, the members are young enough to have lived their whole lives in an era when rap, pop and electronic music have been more popular than rock, but they play like a rock band who happens to use the keyboard-and-drum-machine instrumentation of those genres.

There is no drum kit and their guitars remain on their racks for the most part, but their songs are all powerhouses; like U2 or Coldplay in recent decades, they aim all of their choruses straight for the rafters, as they did Wednesday at the State Theatre in Portland.

A full set of their epic anthems in procession can be a bit exhausting, like watching a baseball team that only attempts home runs and not singles or doubles, but it also reflects an inspiring level of ambition on their part. Who knows what their goals are, but it’s bracing to witness the early years of a band that seemingly aspires to be the biggest group in the world, roping in everyone from teenage Hunger Games fans to 30-something Pitchfork readers, and their parents and kids, too.

Frontwoman Lauren Mayberry gets much of the credit for this. She is a tremendously gifted pop songwriter with an ear for a hook. She and her bandmates affix melodies on top of one another in an almost rococo fashion. Her gifts as a writer bely her age (she was in her early-to-mid 20s when she wrote and co-wrote many of these songs), and her skill as a performer showcase an artist who has played hundreds of high-profile shows.

Given the Madonna-like-pop nature of some of the band’s material, it seemed fair to hope for some choreography and dance in lieu of exclusively getting by on pure energy, but Mayberry is clearly a rock star. Her singing is full of personality and spotted with odd inflections, like how Alanis Morissette or Sinéad O’Connor might sound if they were on the back of a motorcycle, zipping through a neon-lit city.

Band member Martin Doherty sings lead on a few songs, which can hurt the mood on their records, but in concert it comes across as a much stronger change of pace. His “Under the Tide,” in particular, found them slipping into full EDM with a throbbing beat and Doherty hopping around.

Prior to the concert seemed like it would be hard for the band to maintain the energy from their albums. If anything, however, they upped the tempo of some songs.

Playing a set that slightly favored their 2015 album, “Every Open Eye,” over their 2013 debut, they occasionally paired songs that worked well in succession on record. The windswept “Keep You On My Side” from the newer album, for example, still served as a launchpad for the glistening “Make Them Gold.” This sense of drama and momentum paints them as a band that is keenly aware of the moment. Two albums into their careers, they seem ready for theirs.

Robert Ker is a freelance music writer in Portland.

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