If You Leave
by Daughter
Release Date: 18th March 2013
Tracklist: Winter / Smother / Youth / Still / Lifeforms / Tomorrow / Human / Touch / Amsterdam / Shallows //
If You Leave builds upon Daughter's (Elena Tonra's)
inherent songwriting skills that are apparent in her previous releases - the
two EPs, His Young Heart and The Wild
Youth - full of emotion, that explores personal outlets and
experiences through her lyrics.
The
incorporation of her voice and the atmosphere created behind the delicate vocals
push these intuitive lyrics to a new level. A wall of voices, drums, guitar and
reverb layered all in one intensifies the entire experience of her music. This
soundscape of Daughter has developed through her releases, enhanced and evolved
this wall of sound. His Young Heart, her first EP release, has a
bigger focus on the guitar melodies within the instrumentation - such as Landfill -
although still demonstrating elements of the soundscape produced within
this album. The Wild Youth explores this avenue even further
- Medicine, begins with swirls of sound before the piano chords are
introduced and her voice carefully presents over the top of the
instrumentation. If You Leave embodies these aspects
defined within her first two EPs and proceeds to grow and unfold further.
If
You Leave strongly unfurls
experiences and personal struggles of her life or fictional stories. The
opening track, Winter, laments relationships that have
slowly distanced themselves until "now we are strange, strangers",
that have developed into a destructive dependency on the individuals; "wait
for me, to degrade before you go killing prey for waste of daylight".
Youth was originally released on her second EP, The Wild Youth, and was re-recorded for this album and rightly so –
full of passion that slowly unravels, a piece that depicts a darkness within
emotions and relationships: “and if
you’re still breathing / you’re the lucky ones / ‘cause most of us are heaving
through corrupted lungs / setting fire to our insides for fun”. Smother
adds a new layer to this wall of sound, choral vocals that weave in and out
throughout the piece. Still word-paints the tempo -
beginning slowly with just the guitar melody that runs through the piece before
introducing drums and building the atmosphere once again.
The album is addictive, delicate with layers and layers of emotion and
sound. I was reminded of this album when I saw that Daughter had released a new single recently, Doing The Right Thing, and am so glad as this is one of my
favourite albums – if you haven’t listened to it before I highly recommend it. 
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