Three years after the release of If You Leave, Daughter’s latest offering of still, cavernous hauntings sounds trapped in an era of alt-rock that has since collapsed under the weight of its own misery. Not to Disappear is an album that self-loathes as much as it rigorously self-indulges – “No one asks me for dances because I only know how to flail”, “me and I are not friends”, “love is just easing the waiting before dying without company” – and it offers little relief from its earnestness. The London trio’s debut had an intimacy to its sadness, as if thoughts were being confessed in close proximity to its listener – there was a human warmth. But apart from the excellent No Care, a track almost Mogwai-like in its fidgety ferocity, Not to Disappear sounds like an expansive cave filled with the echo of its own emotion.
