It’s probably fair to say that Daughter’s first album, the sorrowful If You Leave, was a bit overwhelming in its sadness. While the pertinent brokenness of the record lingered throughout, the beautiful goth-pop textures produced by the band felt atomised in the large space created Elena Tonra’s lyrics; it was like trying to fill a cathedral hall with just a set of table and chairs.
Three years on and the band have released their new record, Not To Disappear. In an instant, the headspace left off from If You Leave explodes into life. Tonra’s embittered whispers on the pallid and angry ‘Numbers’ takes hold of Daughter’s meteoric indie-pop sound in a more defiant manner, as she repeats “I feel numb in this kingdom / I feel numb in this kingdom”. If their earlier work was tasked with unchaining broken emotions and youthful feelings of longing, than Not To Disappear aims to scorn at and anaesthetise these feelings.
“Both haunted and sullen, Not To Disappear is a sign that Daughter are starting to come of age“
Drowning in her forgotten memories, Tonra gasps for breath on lead single ‘Doing The Right Thing’: “I’ll call out in the night for my mother / But she isn’t coming back for me / Cause she’s already gone”. The dour clasp of rolling drums and mumbled guitar scratches out a hollowed feel for the track. Reeling in her anger, Tonra’s poetic musings finally look like they’re turning into something other than bleak pillow-talk. As their three year absence has shown, Daughter have moved on from necking tabasco sauce (as per the fiery lyrics on ‘Youth’ from their debut The Wild Youth EP) to discussing the helpless progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Likewise, the surprisingly rocky ‘How’, ‘Mothers’ and ‘To Belong’ — a nod to the folk-rock resonance of The National and The War On Drugs — are draped in jolty guitars and moody harmonies. Thick with the sweet and sticky nectar of a pounding indie album, the variety in tones and timbres that Not To Disappear offers is ripe with promise. As evoked on the plight of ‘Mothers’, the mixture of indie-rock grandeur and Daughter’s distinctive goth-pop sound is complementary rather than conflicting — something that the band found difficult to balance with their earlier songwriting. On ‘Mothers’, Tonra sings “I’ll stay here / the provider of that constant sting they call love”. Like an ode to If You Leave, her acid-tongue lyrics leave a cynical aftertaste, and accent that Daughter have not abandoned their earlier sound, but have evolved into something much bolder.
However, for all their strides forward, Daughter are still only half way to reaching their potential. The band’s goth-opera sound, which confronts the angry catharsis of indie-rock with rancorous pop melodies, has grown, but could be misconstrued as naïve teenage angst. Bridging the gap between mundanity and the bleakness of being, Not To Disappear is a teardrop on one step and a purge of anger on the other. They may be still finding their feet, but Daughter are going the right way about it. Both haunted and sullen, Not To Disappear is a sign that Daughter are starting to come of age.
‘Doing The Right Thing’
‘Still’