Review: Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want

I think most people have thought about what having sex with an alien would be like. I’d wager that Daughters has actually fucked aliens and this is their way of letting us know. This being their fourth full length release, and their first time on Ipecac Records, You Won’t Get What You Want has every requirement for a great Daughters album. It’s loud, driving, anxious, and honest. There’s no mystery too great that it can’t be beaten into the ground by these Rhode Island harbingers.

Touching on religious themes, the preposterousness of sex, and personal expectations, Daughters lay everything out on the table. You Won’t Get What You Want may sound tongue in cheek for what their fans are to expect, but ultimately who do you make music for? Daughters are writing for themselves in an unselfish way that pulls people in graciously. Their application of the Loud-Quiet-Loud formulae is an inspirational look at what you can do with composition in the right kind of light. The Flammable Man is an assault piece that cuts right through you. City Song opens the album up with a long stretch that brings you into the dream city that Daughters have created. The album itself is a city of desperation and persistence that refuses to allow the listener direct explanation. We’re on this damn tour together and no one really knows what answers to expect.

Less Sex is a slower number that sounds both sensuous and lonely simultaneously. The impression I get is the act of sex can cause more isolation in certain circumstances, instead of the intimacy we were promised. But I suppose it all depends on what it is you’re looking for to begin with. The closing track Guest House is a chopper; chopping and hacking away at the forest of the mind. Some old forgotten fruit may shake down and bring old wounds to the light. You might be expecting something, but there are no guarantees for what it is you will actually remember.

You Won’t Get What You Want is an important album. In a time of inflated certainty, where everyone and their father knows what’s best and what’s what, Daughters have raised their hands in protest. They don’t like what they’ve been told and the answers just aren’t good enough. With enough time, there may be an opportunity for Daughters to find their own answers to the questions pressed upon them. Until then, let them in!