This is the archived SXSW 2012 schedule. Please see the current schedule here.

Daughter

#sxsw #Daughter

1272

‘The Wild Youth’ is the new EP from 21 year old Elena Tonra aka Daughter.

A collection of four dark, ethereal & beautiful new songs, ‘The Wild Youth’ showcases a young musician experimenting delicately with a rich array of songwriting ideas and yet still intent on pouring out her soul pure and unadulterated.

Having launched with the stunning six-minute ‘Love’, a brooding, stark lament that shifts shape & form as it builds to it’s startling crescendo, ‘The Wild Youth’ includes three more songs (‘Home’, ‘Medicine’ & ‘Youth’) that beautifully weave the intimacy and honesty of timeless, classic folk with the glacial, experimental soundscapes that draw to mind the work of Bjork & Jonsi Birgisson.

Having made a series of demo tracks available at the end of 2010 via her social network pages, Daughter’s star has gently risen, collecting fans one-by-one as these tracks were gradually shared amongst enthusiastic friends and bloggers. 

As the support grew Elena found herself moving - slowly, at first - up The Hype Machine. Within a month - and as the momentum grew - she'd reached #3 in the Most Popular Song Chart. The Independent's Barometer column subsequently noting of her "beautifully-sung, literary folk" and her "ethereal melancholy" as they tipped her as a One to Watch. 

Launching her debut ‘His Young Heart’ EP with a sold-out show at The Slaughtered Lamb, London in April, Elena was soon invited to perform sessions for Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music & Rob Da Bank on BBC Radio 1.

‘Landfill‘ - the lead track from the ‘His Young Heart‘ EP - was soon added to the BBC 6 Music playlist (B-list), with each play sending a surge of new fans to Elena’s social-network pages each intrigued by this mysterious young songwriter, her crystal-clear voice and her startling declarations of honesty (“I want you so much, but I hate your guts, I hate you” - ‘Landfill’).

Spring/ summer 2011 saw Elena - alongside electric guitarist boyfriend Igor Haefeli - support the likes of Lia Ices, Cloud Control, Sharon Van Etten, Ben Howard, Matthew & The Atlas and invited on her first UK tour with Bella Union’s John Grant. Debut festival performances were also chalked up at Bestival, Lounge on the Farm, Great Escape & two stunning shows on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading/ Leeds Festivals.

Each show bought Daughter in-front of a new crowd and and her reticent, yet beautiful, performances rendered crowds silent to a note. 

The ‘His Young Heart’ EP’s slow-burning, word-of-mouth success began to spread beyond the British Isles. In August iTunes US offered Daughter the weeklong free Spotlight Feature for ‘Landfill’, resulting in over 150,000 free downloads of the track, which triggered the full EP itself to climb into the upper reaches of the iTunes singer/songwriter charts on both sides of the Atlantic. She was also invited to be Artist of the Week on American Vogue.

‘The Wild Youth’ EP is Daughter’s next step. Recorded in Crouch End with producer Ian Grimble (Igor Haefeli takes co-production duties) it will be released on 21/10 via Communion (Michael Kiwanuka, Ben Howard).

‘Love’ has already been MpFree on Lauren Laverne’s BBC 6 Music show, and Daughter’s debut BBC Radio 1 Maida Vale session was transmitted on Huw Stephens’ show in September.

Music Video

Our Awesome 2012 Sponsors
Plat_sponsor1