London trio Daughter’s debut album If You Leave was an excellent, tender, delicate record and, on the strength of the first taste of the new album, The single Doing The Right Thing – they’ve retained their sense of melancholy and added some steel to it too.
A few listens in, not long after its release in January, we thought to ourselves If “Not to Disappear” is not in our end of year list, it will have been an incredible year for music’. As it turned out, 2016 was a pretty decent year for new music releases but Daughter’s second album remained a high, and powerful, point.
“Doing the Right Thing” continues to provoke tears when listening. Its anguished take on dementia, told from a sufferer’s point of view, not so much tugging at heartstrings as wrenching them out by the handful while making you chop onions for hours. It is one of the saddest, most emotive tracks we’ve heard in years and its power does not diminish the more familiar you are with it.
By contrast “No Care” is powered by a visceral dissection of a less than pleasant sexual liaison. Here there is anger and disgust but the rawness and honesty remains. Indeed, Not to Disappear is startling in its openness, poignancy, accessibility and beauty. For our money it shows a real evolution and maturity from a band who have always sounded gorgeous, and now seem to have a lot more to say within it.
‘Doing The Right Thing’ was the first single to be taken from Daughter’s new album ‘Not To Disappear’, released on the 15th January 2016