Bands to watch: Daughter

20 April 2011

I was lucky enough to see Daughter (Twitter/Bandcamp) (aka Elena Tonra) a few weeks ago when she played with Marcus Foster as part of HMV’s series of Next Big Thing gigs. The 21 year old songsmith produces beautiful, fragile, and ethereal folk, with her wistful voice over sparse guitar and percussion.

She’s just released His Young Heart EP, with the launch party at The Slaughtered Lamb tonight, and it lives up to our ethereal expectations. She’s been holed-up for the last few weeks with Igor (her boyfriend and live guitarist) writing new material, and His Young Heart is the product of that. She experiments with various acoustic sounds, over which her voice soars, and even when she sings “I hate your guts, I hate you” I can’t help but fall a little in love.

Daughter is playing our showcase at Dingwalls, Camden on 19/05 (tickets)

[BUY] Daughter – His Young Heart EP from Bandcamp
[FREE] Daughter – Demos EP from Music Glue

Daughter – Landfill (taken from the ‘His Young Heart’ EP)
Daughter – The Woods (taken from the ‘His Young Heart’ EP)
Daughter – Candles (taken from the ‘His Young Heart’ EP)
Daughter – Switzerland (taken from the ‘His Young Heart’ EP)
Daughter – In The Shallows (demo)
ohDaughter – Daughter – Run (demo)
Daughter – Tomorrow (demo)
Daughter – Your Kisses (demo)

Blue Walrus Live: Joe Bloggers with Boy Mandeville, Louise and the Pins, Cosmo Jarvis, Elephant and Disclosure

By: Tim

18 April 2011

In: Features, News & Leaks

2 comments

Together with the fine folk from Faded Glamour and Flying with Anna, we’ve curated a show called Joe Bloggers on 19th May at Dingwalls, Camden. We’ve got Boy Mandeville (facebook/twitter), and Louise and the Pins (facebook/twitter), Cosmo Jarvis (facebook/twitter), Elephant and Disclosure all playing live. We’ve very, very excited.

I’ll also be spinning some tunes, so get yourself down and say hello.

Disclosure – London Town by The Big Beat

Cosmo Jarvis – Gay Pirates

Boy Mandeville – Christina

Louise And The Pins – Melancholy (feat. Laura Marling)

Jamie Woon – Mirrorwriting

By: Tim

18 April 2011

In: Reviews

0 comments

Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting Jamie Woon may have made the BBC’s Sound of 2011 list, but up until today with the release of Mirrorwriting most people will have heard Night Air and Lady Luck from this east London talent. He’s got the right family credentials, which you never know may help or hurt, and the right dubstep credentials having worked alongside Burial a number of times over the last few years, but he’s finally delivered on all that promise.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that it took me a little while to get into his sound – when Night Air first landed on my desk the the garage and soul sound felt just a little too close to the bone of a certain musician sent up on Bo Selecta not so long ago. But that Woon wears those influences on his sleeve, throws in some dubstep production, and manages to pull out an album of this quality is to his credit.

He purrs his soft, rich and soulful voice throughout, wrapping it in slowed garage beats, electronic textures, and string swells and some dubstep wobble. It’s a pop album of a rhythm and blues persuasion, a pick’n'mix of the , gospel, soul, funk, garage, dubstep and everything in between, but with his voice and undeniable production skills he has created something more than the sum of his influences. Nowhere is this clearer than on tracks such as my personal favourite Spirits into which he turns into a gospel-influenced electronic ballad.