Every year Splendour In The Grass brings a handful of ‘buzz bands’ to give fans Down Under a chance to ascertain the validity of the hype.
Given that UK trio Daughter had sold out their festival sideshows within days and with their debut album only released a mere four months ago the band would undoubtedly have to prove whether they could transcend their buzz status.
First though was Irish five-piece, Little Green Cars, an act unburdened by the same speculation as the headliners. Having made several inroads into American audiences this year via SXSW, Coachella and a spot on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon their set did little to sway this Melbourne audience to either end of the spectrum of appreciation. Not that their performance was sub-par by any means.
The vocals of Steve Appleby and Faye O’Rouke worked well in tandem and as a band their set was consistent. But much like their 2013 debut album, Absolute Zero, their indie rock folk stylings, while pleasant, offered little surprises.
However Daughter’s debut show on Australian soil did and unfortunately the surprises weren’t of the splendid variety.
Opening with ‘Still’ the first vocal notes from Elena Tonra were near perfect, but as the song ascended towards the atmospheric breakdown of Igor’s guitar distortion the singer’s chorus was overshadowed by noise.
When the trio did expand on stage to a four-piece the guitar chords crowded the Corner Hotel to the point where the initial appeal of Daughter was lost.
Their debut album, If You Leave, garnered the band this very sold out audience because it allowed a form of mesmerism through Tonra’s intimate yet bleak lyricism. The instrumentation that surrounds her vocals only enhances her message.
But at times throughout ‘Human’, ‘Love’ and ‘Smother’ Tonra’s voice, which should be heard in the fore, was lost amidst sound difficulties.
While the trio may not have been to blame for this their pre-album cuts in ‘Candles’ and ‘Landfill’, which didn’t suffer from the same sound problems, lacked intensity and therefore were inevitably underwhelming.
Despite this Daughter provided some form on ‘Winter’, a rare occasion in which the strength of Tonra’s vocals were allowed to be properly exhibited, and also on the night’s heaviest number in ‘Tomorrow’ which at least packed some heat.
The crowd though gave Daughter all the adoration they could. ‘Youth’ both garnered the biggest applause of the night and the only sing-a-long in which Tonra gushed whilst singing.
This was exactly the point where the trio’s show started to truly unravel. While the singer was excessive throughout the set in her surprise at being able to sell out the Melbourne date, letting it overshadow the actual performance itself is quite simply unprofessional.
“I usually cry after too much gin,” laughed Tonra as she explained that she had consumed a little too much alcohol. While the audience wouldn’t have known otherwise their final song before the encore, ‘Home’, exposed the singer with her vocals sounding off key throughout the first chorus. “I can’t sing,” she apologized under her breath mid song. Thankfully Daughter were able to regain composure to provide at least a semblance of a fitting finale.
The trio reappeared on stage only minutes later to perform an encore that they wouldn’t normally indulge their audience in. Their debut’s closing track, ‘Shallows’ and a cover of Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’, that the band first performed for BBC’s Live Lounge, closed out their first ever Australian show.
While it would be unfair to judge a band’s longevity off just one poor performance the fact that the highlight of the night came through a cover isn’t exactly a tell tale sign of future success.
Setlist:
Still
Amsterdam
Love
Landfill
Winter
Candles
Smother
Human
Tomorrow
Youth
Home
Encore:
Shallows
Get Lucky (Daft Punk cover)
