Record labels may not have the same “trademark sound” attributed to them as they used to, but even so, it’s no surprise that Daughter are signed to 4AD. As demonstrated on their well-received 2013 debut, the London trio follow in the near-mythical footsteps of their forebears on that label, most notably Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance.
Their second album picks up the same thread of atmospheric, sultry folk-rock of If You Leave, providing more of a sonic expansion than a departure of any kind. Elena Tonra's newfound personal well of lyrics about self-conscious, hesitant love work in tandem with her bandmates' soft, dextrous compositions, although the tracks become more than a little bogged down in the slow-moving mire of dreamy folk-rock.
Love is the main focus of Tonra's energy, although not always happily; on Numbers she sings: "I wash my mouth but still taste you / I feel numb" rather ruefully, while No Care's "No one asks me for dances because I only know how to flail" comes across a little awkward and entangled in self-pity. Thankfully, there are certain songs that amp up the energy and provide a respite from the surfeit of po-faced pretension that occasionally rears its head on the likes of the sluggish New Ways and the hushed Mothers.
As a matter of fact, the least frustrating tracks are those which unfurl more summarily and inject life and even electronics into the shifting, swirling swathe of shoegaze-infused indie, as heard on To Belong, the musically tumultuous No Care and the evocative How.
True, the trio have created an album that ebbs and flows in quality and will only suit certain moods and dispositions – but when it drifts into your periphery at the right moments, it admittedly casts a hypnotic spell.
