No one who’s ever listened to Daughter would accuse the band’s music of being blithe. With songs mired in depth, texture, and melancholic lyrics, the London-based ambient indie-rock trio have a sound that lends itself to the dramatic.
So it comes as no surprise that their current fame is partially due to the several primetime television spots the band’s music has been featured in.
“When we released the first record (If You Leave), I think is when we started getting all this demand for getting our songs in these shows. Any kind of opportunity to have a song that was written for a specific purpose to be used in another way was very interesting,” says Igor Haefeli, guitarist/bassist for the band.
Indeed, TV producers found them interesting, too. Daughter tracks have been featured in TV shows such as Mistresses, Skins, Our Girl, Forever, Teen Wolf, Reign, andGrey’s Anatomy – just to name a few.
It could be the band’s larger-than-life ambient sound – almost impossibly pulled off by just three members – or singer/guitarist Elena Tonra’s tendency to write earnestly and with enormity.
“From the lyrical point of view, I just think that when [Elena] writes, she’s feeling melancholic or negative because that’s her way of exorcising those things,” Haefeli says of his bandmate.
“Putting the music to that, conceptualizing that and making it more abstract, you make it something more positive and put a spin on the negative. On the music side, we’re influenced quite a lot by melancholic artists and movies and books so I think that’s sort of what happens.”
It’s not just the music itself that’s cinematic in nature, however. With Daughter’s most recent release, the band’s sophomore album Not To Disappear, was the output of three mini-films to complement three singles from the record.
“I think we were very sensitive to image, and especially connecting our music to image was something we’ve always been interested in,” Haefeli reveals.
“Having the opportunity to make some more interesting, more creative videos that aren’t just for a promotional purpose but had an artistic intent was something we were happy to be able to do.”
“Doing The Right Thing,” “Numbers,” and “How” were directed in collaboration with the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts)-nominated Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, and writer Stuart Evers. All are seemingly linked by themes of loss and sadness, and can be watched as a trilogy – either standing alone or viewed sequentially. The films can be viewed on the band’s website, OhDaughter.com.
Not only does Not To Disappear mark a foray into film, but a developing sonic identity since the band’s inaugural release, 2013’s If You Leave.
“We started our first EP with a couple guitars and some recording stuff and a mic. We started with little sonic ambition, it was more about the song,” Haefeli admits.
“As we started playing more and getting into our sonic identity, we sort of went towards something where we were using a lot of reverb and different effects. [It was] quite heavily vocal-based to begin with, there were different vocal textures and [we] really sort of grew into that sort of sound.”
That solidification of musical identity, Haefeli says, has more to do with translating their songs to the stage than being featured on the tube.
“I think that a lot has to do with touring and growing into our own sound,” Haefeli accedes. “The way we make records, we don’t preview them live, we kind of make them up in the studio. It’s really only when we start touring is when they solidify as band songs. I think touring for a couple years… is something we brought into the new album. We know what we want more.”
• Catch Daughter at the Vogue Theatre on Friday, March 18. Sold out.
