Daughter has always been a band that has dealt in the fragility of the human condition, but on first casual listen you could easily be forgiven for thinking that their atmospherically textured new single Doing The Right Thing has found the band riding into a new world of sexual freedom as words about making babies and nudity jump out at the ears. However, it soon becomes clear as the tune evolves that Doing The Right Thing is dealing with far sadder issues than getting jiggy with it. “Then I lose my children, then I lose my love, then I sit in silence, let the pictures from soak out of televisions” sings Elena with a stately calmness; for Doing The Right Thing is about dementia and its progressive and devastating attack on the brain: “I’m just fearing one day soon I’ll lose my mind.” Dementia probably isn’t the sort of thing you’ll find most young musicians writing about, but then Daughter aren't the same as most young bands – they have a disarming maturity about them and that makes them all the more special. Taken from forthcoming 10 track album Not To Disappear, released early next year, Doing The Right Thing is partnered by the first of a trilogy of videos created by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard. It’s a poignant and sympathetic film that serves as a strong visual accompaniment to the music, showing the emotional complexities of treating someone with the illness with dignity and respect, even though its hard to see if anyone is still there inside. Supremely powerful. Daughter - Doing The Right Thing (Video)
Here at Breaking More Waves we like Kassassin Street and their mind altering blend of indie rock so much that we’ve recently moved house to be closer to the very road they were named after. OK, maybe it wasn’t our only reason for moving, but whatever the reasons, it has led to a slight slow-down in the output of the blog over the last few months, although as you might have noticed this week has found us getting back into top gear again. Likewise Kassassin Street have shifted their profile up a lot this year, with well received festival sets, their own headline tour and the forthcoming Radio Silence EP, due mid-October. Now with their foot on the pedal marked onwards and upwards we get Yeah It’s On, a swirling shamanic hallucinogenic piece of indie rock that’s as opium loose in its groove as it is sphincter taught in its riffs. Does that sound a bit pretentious? Probably, but once you’ve heard it you’ll know exactly what we mean. Kassassin Street - Yeah It's On
After the haunting piano led beauty of Take It Down (what a song) and Misfit, Starling returns with Wild Heart and destroys all of our preconceived ideas about her being just a slightly left of centre balladeer that probably composes all of her songs by candlelight. “Take what you need, I'm just an animal, I'm not responsible,” she sings. Woah. We wonder what sort of animal? A lion? A tiger? Maybe a hamster? Oh hold on, isn't she a bird judging by her name? There’s some spike and force here; crashing drums, throbbing electronics and line about a thorn in her love. Don’t worry, it’s not as if she’s gone industrial or written a heavy metal track, as Wild Heart is still unquestionably listenable, but a fire has been added to the intriguing mix. Starling - Wild Heart
We’re not sure if Billie Marten is getting bored of all the ‘new Laura Marling’ tags yet (we are, but as a new artist these comparisons are almost inevitable), but her forthcoming As Long As EP will probably find the likening switching to Lucy Rose. Marten has the same sort of unshowy voice as Rose, never pushing things to hard, relying instead on a genteel sereneness to draw you into her world. New song Bird, the first of the four songs to be released from the EP, is a timely reminder that there will always be a space for something a little softer and slower in amongst the dense, fast-paced harshness of the modern world. This one is beautifully produced, the song growing with a haunting clarity, but despite the atmospheric build, it's many miles from being anything near bombastic or over the top. Wonderfully enticing. Billie Marten - Bird
