Expectations were high for this set: seeing Daughter for the first time this summer was one of the most moving experiences of the year. This Manchester show at one of my favourite mid sized venues had long since sold out, and fans gathered early to queue for a place near the front. First up was 4AD stablemate Indians, a solo classically trained musician from Copenhagen. He has performed with Other Lives and been compared to Bon Iver. His music is minimal, blending an ethereal folk vocal style with electronics. In a live setting, he failed to overcome the challenges of maintaining interest on stage with an electronic act, but if you closed your eyes, there was no lack of sonic beauty.
Elena Tonra is also relatively restrained in her movement on stage, standing meekly on stage. Yet, being close to her, deep emotion was evident in her eyes, and there was clearly an intense energy within. Her partner Igor Haefeli was more physically demonstrative, and added greatly to the drama of the music. He employed bowed electric guitar and feedback effects in a Jonsi like manner, and with the drummer Remi Aguilella and a keyboard player, the canvas was felt richer than that on the album If You Leave. Their swelling electronics created an undercurrent of barely suppressed tension, the drama belying any expectations of quiet folk. Daughter has been compared to The XX, yet Igor in particular creates greater dynamic range and drama. In fact the mood reminded me at times of Exit Music.
Elena's fragile, beautiful vocals form the emotional core of Daughter: her performance was incredibly subtle and delicate. Alas, the sound balance was less sensitively handled: in the opening two songs, her vocals were scarcely audible, and despite an improvement mid set, the rousing, relatively up tempo Human was marred by Elena's voice being recessed. The sound was frustratingly inconsistent at a venue which normally avoids such issues; the mix at Daughter's outdoor show in August with Sigur Ros preserved her sometimes whispered voice. The predominately purple, blue and red lighting was imaginative and largely understated, yet seemed superfluous: the raw lyrics give the imagination more than enough indication of mood without the need for visual stimuli. In Lifeforms, she sings candidly 'I want you so much but I hate your guts', countering her outward politeness.
As ever, Elena was endearingly shy and awkward on stage, whilst managing to convey her appreciation for the audience, not least after shouts of 'love you' from the crowd. Youth gained the most recognition, and turned into a sing along. Yet, Daughter is an introverted act with strong appeal to other introverts like myself. There was little dancing, and thankfully a minimum of chatter during the main act in the predominantly female audience. The surprise encore, a cover of Daft Punk's Get Lucky, was a slowed down, hollowed out, sparse reinvention, almost ghostly. I left with an otherworldly feeling: Elena is one of those performers who can transport you to another realm. It's beautiful place, at times raw and turbulent, but aware of the fragility of the human condition. The music is intensely nuanced and personal; moving when listened to through headphones, but gaining immensely in grandeur as a live, shared experience.
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