Adam Pfleider
03/31/10, 09:51 AM
Daughters - Daughters
Record Label: Hydra Head Records
Release Date: March 9, 2010
Does finding your sound mean breaking apart? That seems to be the deal for Daughters, who, on the brink of their self-titled, are not much of a band anymore. It's unfortunate, because they have put together their best album to date. In a little less than half an hour, the band finally hit their mark, doing away with anything that remotely resembles their grindcore past and building traditional songs in their relative frequency.
Vocalist Alexis Marshall still sounds as maniacal as he did on 2006's Hell Songs. He literally sounds like the creepy guy sitting in the van down by the local junior high. But this time around, he's more focused than ever - especially his drawl on "The First Supper." Marshall even gives us glimpses of The Jesus Lizard's David Yow on "The Dead Singer" and the opening "The Virgin."
More focused than Marshall is the band. Where before it seemed like there were a bunch of parts to make a whole and keep a flow, Daughters is a group of actual nontraditional songs. There is direction and flow, instead of sheer sporadic movement. You can hear the twang in "Sweet Georgia Brown" and in a way, accessibly ride where "The First Supper" is heading, instead of just listening to unforgiving undertow. For an immediate picture of how far Daughters has come, the album's closing "The Unattractive, Portable Head" is a narrative that chimes, hand claps and chorally crescendos to the extent of being a nontraditional, classical structure of a piece.
Unfortunately, the band aren't going to break new ground across the musical landscape. Many bands don't set out to change the shape of everyone's influences. For Daughters, this time they changed their own face and created an album that I believe pushed themselves and made it just accessible enough for others to latch onto. Too bad it looks like the end, because this one is a sweet new beginning.
1. The Virgin
2. The First Supper*
3. The Hit
4. The Theatre Goer
5. Our Queens (One is Man, Many is One)
6. The Dead Singer
7. Sweet Georgia Brown*
8. The Unattractive, Portable Head*
*key tracks
Jesus Lizard's Shot; These Arms Are Snake's Tail Swallower and Dove; The Number 12 Looks Like You's Worse Than Alone
Record Label: Hydra Head Records
Release Date: March 9, 2010
Does finding your sound mean breaking apart? That seems to be the deal for Daughters, who, on the brink of their self-titled, are not much of a band anymore. It's unfortunate, because they have put together their best album to date. In a little less than half an hour, the band finally hit their mark, doing away with anything that remotely resembles their grindcore past and building traditional songs in their relative frequency.
Vocalist Alexis Marshall still sounds as maniacal as he did on 2006's Hell Songs. He literally sounds like the creepy guy sitting in the van down by the local junior high. But this time around, he's more focused than ever - especially his drawl on "The First Supper." Marshall even gives us glimpses of The Jesus Lizard's David Yow on "The Dead Singer" and the opening "The Virgin."
More focused than Marshall is the band. Where before it seemed like there were a bunch of parts to make a whole and keep a flow, Daughters is a group of actual nontraditional songs. There is direction and flow, instead of sheer sporadic movement. You can hear the twang in "Sweet Georgia Brown" and in a way, accessibly ride where "The First Supper" is heading, instead of just listening to unforgiving undertow. For an immediate picture of how far Daughters has come, the album's closing "The Unattractive, Portable Head" is a narrative that chimes, hand claps and chorally crescendos to the extent of being a nontraditional, classical structure of a piece.
Unfortunately, the band aren't going to break new ground across the musical landscape. Many bands don't set out to change the shape of everyone's influences. For Daughters, this time they changed their own face and created an album that I believe pushed themselves and made it just accessible enough for others to latch onto. Too bad it looks like the end, because this one is a sweet new beginning.
1. The Virgin
2. The First Supper*
3. The Hit
4. The Theatre Goer
5. Our Queens (One is Man, Many is One)
6. The Dead Singer
7. Sweet Georgia Brown*
8. The Unattractive, Portable Head*
*key tracks
Jesus Lizard's Shot; These Arms Are Snake's Tail Swallower and Dove; The Number 12 Looks Like You's Worse Than Alone