Welcome to the world of Daughter’s ‘Stereo Mind Game’
By: Maddie Turner
Stereo Mind Game is the 3rd official full length album by English band Daughter, releasing on April 7th 2023. The last body of music that Daughter released was a full length almost all instrumental LP titled Music from before the storm, which was a soundtrack to the video game life is strange: Before the storm, released in 2017, and before that, it was Not to Disappear, released in 2016. Stereo Mind Game is different from anything this band has ever done before, experimenting with new styles of writing and sounds. The album starts out with a short ethereal instrumental intro that builds up the atmosphere perfectly, preparing you to enter the world of Daughter and Stereo Mind Game. After the intro we are immediately catapulted into the first single from this record, “Be On Your Way,” a ballad about letting go of someone you once loved; the first time we see the repeating themes of both losing yourself in another person and losing yourself in your own mind.
Photo: Marika Kochiashvili
This album also juggles with the idea of connection and disconnection, even featuring voicemails from singer Elena Tonra’s friends and family in “Wish I Could Cross the Sea” and “(Missed Calls)”. Tonra and her voicemails are not the only voices featured on this album either, as for the first time in Daughter history, Igor Haefeli, the bands guitarist and co-producer to this album, lends his voice on tracks “Future Lover” and “Swim Back”. On “Neptune” a choir is featured, and London string quartet “12 Ensemble” is present throughout the album, along with a brass quartet in “Neptune” and “To Rage”. Tonra expressed in a statement posted to the bands website that she believes this album is more “optimistic” than anything else that they’ve ever put out before, but with her lyrics, it will never be full sunshine. Stereo Mind Game is definitely not full sunshine. While it is a lot brighter in contrast to former pieces of work by the band like 2012 EP His Young Heart and 2013 album If You Leave, it does bring light to how a connection or relationship can both destroy and bring you back to life. In track four “Dandelion”, Tonra expresses the grueling feeling it is to truly try to know someone with a strong instrumental backing and lines like “I prefer it if we’re close, I’d like to look you in the eyes not fearing staring into the void waiting for replies” and “I’ve been trying to read your mind by stripping all the poems” making it one of the strongest and most honest songs on this album.
For me personally, track eleven, “To Rage,” hit the hardest with lyrics like “I’ve never loved a living thing so much, I was not equipped to just sit and watch you quit on us,” and “I split the walls for warmth, I shook you down, I smashed the floors, to rage my love.” The brass quartet featured on this song brings a warm contrast to the chilling lyrics and makes “To Rage” one of the more painful tracks on the album. While closing out the record with “Wish I Could Cross the Sea,” you can hear a gorgeous mixture of sounds mixed with voicemails in the background, making it one of the prettiest songs that the band has put out. All in all, this is probably the best piece of work that Daughter has released, and everyone should be paying attention.