Daughter - Stereo Mind Game

Daughter’s ability to conjure emotional reaction in their audience is by now unquestioned; whether Elena Tonra’s barely-there whisper of a vocal meticulously expressing her lyrics, or the trio as a whole painting in sonic watercolour, their soft layers of sound disappearing or multiplying at precisely the right point. These two factors are key still on third studio album - and their first since 2016’s ‘Not To Disappear’ - ‘Stereo Mind Game’. The first comes via ‘Party’, the song which also provides the album’s title. “I could stop if I want to / I just don’t want to yet” is perhaps a well-used line, if not in exact verbiage then in sentiment, but following the gut-punch wordplay of “Fear that I’d forget / The worst night of my life / Or even worse, the best,” it’s a stand-still moment. Then, see the mid-record pairing of ‘Neptune’ and ‘Swim Back’; the former quietly epic, building to a fade out, the song drowning in itself before the latter returns as a - for Daughter, at least - clamouring track, its heavy bassline propelling forward while also offering sonic gravitas and grounding. Which is all to say, this is all very Daughter (and very good).