The First Record "Daughters" Explores Sorrow and Style
Within the song "Miss America", listeners are placed in a lodging near JFK airfield, where the musician receives the devastating update of her father's cancer discovery. The Sunderland-born performer was traveling America for the first time, drumming alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, and suddenly sadness casts a shadow, tinging everything in grey. Unsteady piano and soft strings accompany dark dispatches from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her gentle vocals are delivered in a deadpan manner, while the album's intensity arises from the keen writing—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct diary entries—along with surprising maximalism. Few songs this year showcase more potent novelistic style than "Shelly", a piece that depicts the killing of a deer and spirals toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, evoking written works illuminated by flickers of warped strings. Anxious, subdued sections featuring resonating, strummed guitar transition to expansive choruses, with her voice digitally manipulated into a presence omniscient and sinister.
Audiences may already be familiar with the artist from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and contributor in groups such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists reflect her diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" erupts in flourish, like a string band taken unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically ups the BPM via a punishing, beautiful, repeating drum fill. Thick layers of audio, expertly produced by a long-term partner, seem at once gnarly and ethereal, while her dark, magical thoughts peak on standout "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, with heart-aching dark comedy.
