Daughter - Stereo Mind Game REVIEW

8.5/10

Daughter, an English-based indie folk/rock trio originally formed in 2010, has come out with their third official studio album, 'Stereo Mind Game'. This album was my first listening experience with Daughter, initially intrigued by the album art, containing what looks like a destroyed flower stuck to glass; it just looked incredibly emotional. Turns out, I was right.

Kicking off the album is the beautiful "Be On Your Way", a track containing such pretty strings, sparkly synths, and soft drums. On top of this, all is a melancholic vocal performance from vocalist Elena. "Party" follows, an instrumentally solid track with nothing incredible, however, the storytelling is great, with Elena detailing the "worst night" of her life.

The three-track run of "Dandelion", "Neptune", and "Swim Back" is stellar. "Dandelion" opens up with an intriguing drum pattern that sticks around throughout the duration, and calming vocals from Elena all around. I loved the dreamy and spacey electric guitar that made for a beautifully nostalgic sound. "Neptune" had a solid ambiance created by that lightly droning synth in the background, and the drops that go into a flurry of synths after the second and third verses are heavenly, and the vocal production on the refrain is perfect. Elena comes in with one of her strongest vocal performances in the whole project. "Swim Back" starts off with this intriguing infestation of distorted vocals, going into a nice slightly rough electric guitar and lively drums. The vocals sound super dreamy on this track, complimented nicely by the swelling strings.

The second half of the album contains a few okay tracks, with "Junkmail", a track that although does contain an interesting vocal performance that could almost be passed as spoken word, didn't leave me as stunned as the previous three. "Isolation" instrumentally wasn't outstanding, but I did enjoy the trippy vocals and instrumental in the outro specifically. Lyrically, I found how Elena touched on how she has to get away from this person/thing because it could "kill her" very intriguing.

"Future Lover" was a stand-out track in the second half, with it holding an incredibly ethereal feeling, from the dreamy guitar chords to the perfectly reverbed vocals. "To Rage" is a beautifully soothing track containing breathy vocals and a lush plucky guitar. It's the type of song you want to stare off into space to. Closing the album is "Wish I Could Cross the Sea", which is lyrically stripped back but made up for by the instrumental grandness. This track holds a gorgeous ambiance, especially with the layered strings and synths in the outro.

All in all, Daughter comes through with a stunning album containing emotion all-around, portrayed by both the vocals and instrumentals. I guess this also shows how important cover art is; if it was something not as intriguing, I would have never listened to this beautiful piece of work! I'm excited to see what they come through with next, and I can't wait to get around to listening to their other projects.

give it a listen