{"id":2714,"date":"2017-03-17T15:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T15:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-western-daughter-driftwood-songs\/"},"modified":"2023-01-24T15:10:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T15:10:09","slug":"review-western-daughter-driftwood-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-western-daughter-driftwood-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Western Daughter – Driftwood Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At turns majestic and soaring, at others frayed and taut, there\u2019s a wonderful push-and-pull to Western Daughter<\/b>\u2019s off-kilter indie-pop songs.<\/p>\n

Hailing from the Pacific North West, Western Daughter<\/b>\u2019s \u2018Driftwood Songs<\/i>\u2019 is yet another album to pay lip service to the unhinged talents of the area\u2019s most notable exports \u2013 Washington\u2019s Modest Mouse and Idaho\u2019s Built to Spill. That it follows on so quickly from \u2018Rot Forever\u2019<\/i>, last year\u2019s exceptional 17-track opus from Portland\u2019s Strange Ranger, just highlights how much of a shadow the scene\u2019s heavyweights have cast over the geographical region.<\/p>\n

Yet, there\u2019s so much going on throughout ‘Driftwood Songs<\/i>\u2019 that any similarities feel like a mere tip of the hat as they run in wildly different directions. Flashes of Americana, such as on the rootsy \u2013 albeit frazzled \u2013 \u2018San Francisco\u2019<\/i> help to establish a solid individual identity, while \u2018Pillars of Salt\u2019<\/i> owes more to the pulsating emotion of Brand New than their North West counterparts.<\/p>\n

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Also, ‘Driftwood Songs<\/i>\u2019 never feels like a genre album \u2013 it\u2019s a classic indie-rock album in the traditional sense. Sure, there are nods to emo \u2013 and in particular Mid-West emo \u2013 but you could see \u2018Driftwood Songs<\/i>\u2019 nestling alongside the Decemberists or Interpol or the National in a record collection and not look out of place.<\/p>\n

This is thanks, in large part, due to Taylor Robert Hawkins\u2019 distinctive vocals, which can both soothe and soar with serene calm and rant and rave with unbridled fire. Just take opening salvo \u2018Skinny Water\u2019<\/i> and \u2018Exhibition on Main Street\u2019<\/i>, which show the two sides of Western Daughter<\/b>\u2019s idiosyncratic sound; one meanders beautifully, the other stomps like a hoe-down.<\/p>\n

That Western Daughter<\/b> manage to keep the twists surprising and the quality high throughout points at a promising future for the emerging band \u2013 and one more act to add to the folklore of a region that continues to set trends and define genres.<\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n