Daughters

Despite the band's deliberately innocuous-sounding name, Daughters are an exercise in extreme grindcore noise. Though the all-male quintet is from Providence, Rhode Island, comparisons to Japanese noise acts like Melt Banana and the Boredoms are not without merit. Daughters' music is slightly less chaotic and more overtly structured, but with a similarly unsettling manic edge. They've also gained a reputation for altering their sound between albums, in particular the rapid-fire vocal style on their debut, 2003's Canada Songs, and the menacing drawl found on 2006's Hell Songs; after a brief hiatus, their sound morphed into tighter compositions, featured on their 2018 record You Won't Get What You Want. Daughters formed in Providence in 2001 out of the acrimonious breakup of local noise rock outfit As the Sun Sets. Singer Alexis Marshall, guitarists Brent Scott Frattini (ex-the Cancer Conspiracy) and Nicholas Andrew Sadler, bassist Samuel Morehouse Walker, and drummer Jonathan Syverson released their first EP, Daughters, on the City of Hell label in 2002; at four songs in just barely over four minutes, it was minimalist noisecore at its most concise, although song titles like "My Stereo Has Mono and So Does My Girlfriend" reveal a certain panache. Canada Songs followed in 2003 on the Robotic Empire label; although described as a full-length album, its ten songs (with even more overtly goofy titles) are squeezed into just over 11 minutes. With the exception of a stopgap live album recorded at CBGB's that was released in 2004, Daughters laid low for the next few years, and when they returned, some notable changes had been made. On Daughters' second album, Hell Songs, Marshall's previously unintelligible gibber of a voice is replaced by a more measured baritone snarl akin to Nick Cave's Birthday Party days; similarly, the songs, though still brutal, are over twice as long on average, allowing for a greater dynamic range. They began writing material for their third album in 2007, heading into the studio in 2009 to begin recording. However, after an argument between Marshall and Sadler -- resulting in Marshall leaving the group -- the band abruptly announced they were on hiatus. Further complications led to Marshall re-forming the group without Sadler, who stepped aside to focus on his work with Fang Island. In among the drama, they managed to release their eponymous third full-length in 2010. Marshall and Sadler eventually reunited in 2013, setting to work on their fourth album, which again saw setbacks as an entire suite of recordings were scrapped in 2014. Over the next few years, the band kept teasing the record and sporadically touring, eventually releasing You Won't Get What You Want in 2018; they cited film scores and minimalism as influences on the record, even though it retained an abrasive edge throughout. ~ Stewart Mason & Liam Martin