''If You Leave'' is the debut album by

Daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

released under 4AD on 18 March 2013. In anticipation of the album, a music video for the promotional single "Still" was released on 24 January 2013. It was directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

Background

Daughter formed in 2010, originally intended to showcase the solo work of singer Elena Tonra, until she was joined by guitarist Igor Haefeli and drummer Remi Aguilella. They released the ''Demos EP'' which started word of mouth on the band, Daughter self-released their debut EP, ''His Young Heart'', on 20 April 2011. On 2 October 2011 they released another EP, ''The Wild Youth'', through artist-led Communion Records. The latter EP earned praise from British website For Folk’s Sake who described Daughter as "one of the most unique sounds in the pop landscape today."

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

also invited them to perform a

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Session for his show. In 2012 the band were signed to 4AD and began work on their debut album.

Recording

Haefeli explained that their approach was that: "We never really rehearsed the songs before recording them. It was really written in the flat and then just recorded in the studio, where a lot of parts came up". The band re-recorded a new version of the song "Youth" in a live setting."Musicfeeds January 2014"
Rachelle Beaven, 'Daughter Talk Laneway 2014, Incremental Success & Album Number Two', Musicfeeds (Australia), 24 January 2014

Release

Chart performance

On 18 March 2013 Daughter released ''If You Leave'' and it reached number 4 on the UK indie album chart and number 16 on the Top 100. Before the release of ''If You Leave'' they released the first single off the album "Smother" in October. It was playlisted by both BBC Radio 1 and

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, while being awarded Single of the Week by long-time supporter Huw Stephens. Later on the band released promotional single "Still" which had no official cover and a music video for the song was released on 24 January 2013, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. After the release of the album they released the second single from the album "Human" on 29 April 2013 on seven-inch vinyl. During the week of 5 May 2013, the song "Youth" was released as a Free Single of the Week on the

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. As of January 2016, the album has sold 74,489 copies in the UK.

Critical reception

The album has received positive reviews from critics. It was positively reviewed by

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, who described the sound as "instantly enchanting of design", "wholly hypnotic" and "more engaging than many a peer's offerings." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', who rated the album a three out of five, offered a mixed review, characterizing the sound as "atmospheric, but...calculatingly so, especially set against onra'soverwrought poetry."

Track listing

Personnel

*Elena Tonra – vocals, guitar *Igor Haefeli – guitar, producer *Remi Aguilella – drums, percussion

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Daughter (band) albums 2013 debut albums 4AD albums Glassnote Records albums Albums produced by Rodaidh McDonald