[usr 10.0 text=”true”]
REVIEW – How do you follow up such an important debut record that took listeners and critics by storm? Daughter answer that question with their new album. Some records you can just hear the emotion and pain coming thru from the vocalist to know they are going to paint a picture that will bruise your heart but yet inspire you to listen. Elena Tonra is basically an open book and she really gives a performance on this record that is raw, naked and very emotional. Where these days artists are asking you buy into them, Elena has such an honesty to her delivery you cannot help but feel that she has been on a very damaged path to get to this new record. The debut album I called it a clash of Kate Bush meets Portishead. You got this emotional landscape that had you teary eyed and alive to what she was bringing out in her performance. For people who felt Mazzy Star never quite recovered after So Tonight I Might See, this could be the answer to what could make music exciting again for you. As this record goes on, it is just frightening and beautiful what this band came up with. The music is beautifully put together by Igor Haefeli on guitar and Remi on percussion. The music shifts from this gentle folk to this dreamy shoegaze with this emotional singer who just sinks right into your mind and never leaves. The music on this cd takes some shifts in both tone and mood, which is all about how Tonra feels at that moment.
You get the feeling that the studio had to be seen as therapeutic. Where bands in the past seem to know how to compliment a singer’s style, I think this band works around Tonra’s moods. You get the feeling track to track that the band never quite know where the song is heading but they are as anxious as we are listening to where the song will end up. Where the debut album felt more about Tonra’s isolation, this record seems to be trying to get her to see beyond it. From first track to last this cd will not only stick with you, it will haunt you in your sleep and everyday existence. In an age where songs come and go, and everything has to be so shiny and happy, it is amazing that a band can come on the scene and break down that barrier and just say, “ this is who we are, take it or leave it, this is who we will be”. If you are a fan of Bjork, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Hooverphonic, Ruby and early Mazzy Star, this cd is a must own. Daughter on the first record I thought it was special and once in a blue moon. The follow up shows me that blue moons are becoming a regular deal. This is quite frankly the best cd of 2016, I see nothing coming on the horizon that will come close.
DAUGHTER is:
Elena Tonra – vocals, guitar, bass
Igor Haefeli – guitar, bass
Remi Aguilella – drums, percussion