Daughter frontwoman Elena Tonra released her debut solo album under the name Ex:Re (pronounced “X-ray”) last month via Glasnote. The self-titled record details the space left after a break-up and was a cathartic project for Tonra, who spent a year writing the record in the aftermath of the relationship’s dissolution.
“Although the record is written for someone, a lot of the time it’s about the space without that person in it,” previously explained Tonra. “In every scenario, there’s either the person in memory or the noticeable absence of that person in the present moment. I suppose it is a break-up record, however I do not talk about the relationship at all, and he hardly features in the scenes. He is only felt as a ghostly presence.”
“Crushing,” the second song on the album, uses evocative lyrics and sparse instrumentation to paint a picture of the complex feelings that surround a break-up. One moment she’s admitting that she’s “crushing” over its ending and then proclaiming “I'll loosen up / It's not like it meant a lot / We were drunk once / Its not like we were some dream.”
Daughter released their second album Not To Disappear in 2016. Watch their KEXP in-studio from the same year below.
