Daughter
Interview Josh Jones
Photography Dan Wilton
Initially starting out as a solo singer-songwriter, Elena Tonra and her haunting voice were joined by Igor Haefeli (guitar) & Remi Aguilella (percussion) to become Daughter last year. Currently smouldering across the UK (and further) blogosphere, they’re at the forefront of the ethereal folk wave that’s cresting over us at the beginning of 2012. Dark, lovelorn and bleak lyrics, sung in a haunting, emotive way with an expansive but minimalist sound, I was fully expecting Elena to be mysterious and miserable when I met her for a cup of tea. But she was the complete opposite – full of smiles and laughs and sipping tea out of a china cup as we chatted about the band’s snowballing momentum and their new EP The Wild Youth (Communion Records, 2011), before band mate and boyfriend Igor turned up for the photos.
You’ve played a few churches in London recently – most notably, St Stephen’s earlier in 2011 and St Giles In The Field just before Christmas – do you feel at home in a place with acoustics like that? Your music does suit that kind of setting.
I do. I don’t know what it is about churches. There’s definitely an atmosphere there and the sound is always really good. Every gig we’ve had in a church, we’ve really, really loved it. Maybe it’s the sound thing and the rows of wooden pews. And I guess the fact the audience feel they have to be quiet. It’s great for us as it feels like everyone’s paying attention. I love a good church gig.
Are you spiritual?
Well both my parents are Roman Catholic – my mum’s Italian and my dad’s Irish. They’re not over the top with it, but I was brought up going to Sunday School as a kid and stuff. I was obviously brought up with all that, but I’m not particularly religious in the sense of all the regulations, but I like to think there’s definitely something else. God knows what it is!
Well, literally. But I guess it’s good to do a few good shows in a church to get on their good side if something does exist.
That’s true – and it’s the end of the world isn’t it?
Yep – December 2012 is the end.
Well we’re alright for a bit. We should get a few more gigs in before then.
Would it be fair to compare you to Karen O and Cat Power and Lykke Li?
Oh that’s a nice mixture! Generally because they’re all very cool. I’ve been compared to quite a lot of different people, which I suppose is quite a good thing as people aren’t just telling me that I’m like one person. I suppose everyone in a way, and I guess it’s kind of an ego thing, finds that weird because you don’t like to think that you’re like someone else. You want to be an individual and the most original person in the world. But it’s great to be compared to people whose music I really enjoy. Especially someone like Karen O. I’ve not heard that one before. I guess the hair, definitely! I think she’s pretty amazing.
Would you say you were folk? Or as the Guardian so nicely put it, ‘Fucked up folk’?
I know right? That’s quite funny. It’s difficult, because I don’t know what we are. We don’t really think about it at all. We’re more like ‘this sounds alright – let’s do that.’ It did start off with my solo thing for years, which was very folky and acoustic. It definitely started out that way, but with me and Igor working together and developing things, it has all gone a bit more atmospheric and, I dunno, we’re just trying to experiment with what we’re doing.
People have mentioned that your lyrics are dark and depressing, but do you see them as a release of emotions – which is a positive thing. The Guardian, again, said ‘”Youth” plumbs Ian Curtis’ depths of bleakness’. I wasn’t expecting you to be so friendly!
I think it’s a relief that I’m actually friendly as I probably would be the most depressed person in the world. I enjoy really dark music. I love Joy Division and don’t think I can really write anything happy. I don’t know if that’s a conscious thing or I literally can’t. If I didn’t write songs, I think I’d be really weird [laughs]. I’d have a lot of shit that I just couldn’t get out. I’d have about 10 cats and just mutter away to myself and play the saw. It’s a release of emotion and I can just be rid of bad experiences. It is a bit like therapy where bad shit has happened but if you can put it down on paper and write about it and then sing it to people, then you’ll be alright. I dunno where I’m going with that!
The new EP – The Wild Youth (Communion Records, 2011) was recorded in Crouch End. You’re from North London – is that why?
I wish I was from there. I’m from proper North London. I’m in zone 9.
What, Amersham? That’s like not even in London. That’s a conveniently written press release.
[Laughing] I know! If I’m still in a zone then I’m from London. Igor is proper London. There’s not much good music from where I’m from. Actually, actually, Kyla La Grange and The Staves are both from the same areas as me. So, actually I lie – we’re pretty damn cool up there.
The Wild Youth EP has shown graduation in sound in terms of mass. There’s a lot more – electronic, booming drums etc. from, say, the DEMOS EP? Has Igor brought that influence in?
The way we work is that I will write the lyrics and acoustic guitar and then Igor and his crazy brain come along and he takes the song and works on it by himself and he comes up with the most amazing things. Then we work together and layer the vocals and guitars and stuff. We basically demoed everything that we eventually recorded in Crouch End and having someone like Ian Grimble (British Sea Power, Beth Orton) as our producer, we were then able to make the tinny sounds that we’d made in Igor’s room into this massive noise. The ideas were always there – we just needed the equipment and the knowledge of Ian to make them into a reality. It was great that Igor could get involved in the production side of things too; Ian was really open to listening to other people’s opinions.
Your vocals, especially live, are captivating, stretching people to the edges of their emotions – are you drained at the end of each performance? It feels you put a lot of yourself into it.
Kind of – not really drained. I mean after I’ve played I’m in a weird state. I need to have a cigarette and a big glass of wine. Now I’m with a band, I’m really excited. Before, when I was solo it was really heavy but now I get to share it with people. Even though it’s obviously not happy music and not that up-tempo, I’m excited by it. I especially like it when I’ve finished as I get ridiculously nervous. It is a release of nerves but you feel like you’ve achieved something.
The word ethereal is often used as a way to vaunt your music – would you concur?
It’s a little bit churchy and waily isn’t it? I’m kind of open to people saying what they think of the music. Ethereal has been used a lot but I do quite like that. I don’t ever really want to say what my music sounds like. I don’t think that’s what music is all about, I quite like people to listen to stuff and have their own opinion. It’s the same with lyrics – I don’t like explaining songs. Sometimes you go to a gig and the singer tells you when and why they wrote a song. I never do that – I think that ruins things. I want to judge for myself what something is about.
