Daughter’s second album takes the indie folk group on a solemn, emotional journey into even darker realms – while the band’s 2013 debut‘If You Leave had its intense moments of sobriety, loneliness permeates throughout the full 45 minutes of Not To Disappear unapologetically.
The album starts with the painful ‘New Ways’, an enduring five minutes thirty, which sees lead singer Elena Tonra hopelessly looking for ways to “waste her time”. ‘Alone/With You’ is a reverb-heavy track that moves backwards and forwards in time with the opposition the song is trying to portray – feeling isolated both when on your own and when in company.
The fiery, fast-paced ‘No Care’ is a short, tormented encounter of bitter sex and twisted infatuation, while the album’s finale is the miserable ‘Made of Stone’ – a fitting end to such an emotionally-charged album.
There aren’t many uplifting moments in Not To Disappear, admittedly – but it’s a beautiful exclamation of real human feelings, especially given Tonra’s affecting voice, similar to those of London Grammar’s Hannah Reid and The XX’s Romy Madley Croft.
A powerful album that does justice to – and doesn’t get lost in – its wide-ranging genre.
