Daughters

This record is going to cause quite a stir, but we should have expected it. Refusing to be held down, Daughters have once again skirted expectations with this eponymous release, straying even further from their vicious, algebraic creations one needed a slide rule and compass to navigate. As with 2006's Hell Songs, the band become increasingly more cohesive and accessible, an accomplishment built on by decreased degrees of distortion, less rabid screeching and jarring stop-starts. The album is one of their longest at almost a half-hour, decidedly softer-hitting while still quite fast and frenzied. It's also richer, factoring in a far more intense influx of keyboard sounds, samples and melodies than previously experienced. This continues the band's turn away from the ravenous explosiveness of their past. Avid fans might be instantly dismayed at such a shift but if they give this a fair shake, Daughters is actually one of the band's more complex, least compressed and overall rewarding endeavours, given that it took some incredible feats of patience, dedication and exploration outside of their comfort zone to craft.