For Daughter vocalist Elena Tonra, Ex:Re was initially a project that would begin and end with a single record. Released in 2018, her self-titled album, ‘Ex:Re’ was an intensely brooding collection of songs exploring a difficult breakup, and offered quite the stylistic diversion from her previous musical involvements. Eight years on (it’s hard to believe the project has been revived in the form of ‘Save As’), an album built on the long-term archiving of Tonra’s consciousness, now reworked into a fully-fledged album that drifts carefully between specific moments and feelings in time.
The album’s three singles, ‘Radio Station’, ‘Sleep’ and ‘Am I Even Real?’ open with spiralling chamber-pop elements that wouldn’t feel out of place on Radiohead’s ‘The Bends’. On ‘Radio Station’, Tonra recalls a California road trip tinged with self-detachment, arising further on ‘Am I Even Real?’ where reassurances to her partner are broken up by the existential interjection, “It’s only me/But am I even real?”. ‘Sleep’ takes a mellower turn in between, punctuated by a lo-fi looping guitar line reminiscent of hearing a party through another room.
In ‘Save As’, collaboration from the likes of producer Fabian Prynn and Josephine Stephenson – featured in past projects of Daughter and Ex:Re both – results in a blend of strings and percussion that fills out under Tonra’s delicate melodies and lyricism. The title track, ‘Save As’, emerges as the album’s central point, building with a steady spaciness through woozy synths and a heavy trip-hop drum beat. Through murmured backing vocals, the track ultimately circles back to the confession, “I thought that all the stars had burned through/But then there’s you”.
In ‘Frozen Aisle’, Tonra’s vocals float out-of-body above dreamy, slowcore instrumentals and sliding strings. Depicting anxiety and dissociation, the track culminates in a hazy instrumental that conjures bright supermarket lights and cold, empty aisles.
The wonderful thing about ‘Save As’s instrumentals is the versatility and ability to embody the subject matter they are woven through. In ‘Wasp’, Stephenson’s strings become the life force behind the buzzing insect – “Little thing/You haven’t got a sting like mine,” – that Tonra channels her grief through. Each instrument and layer becomes a collage piece to make up Tonra’s consciousness, as she reconstructs past thoughts and emotions.
The closer, ‘Healing (Slowly)’ offers a bright, bittersweet end to the record. With soft acoustics evocative of Billie Marten, Tonra processes the passing of her grandmother with her and her mother’s incremental grief. Decidedly, “Sometimes a death just has no deeper meaning/Than time”, and Tonra reconciles the emotional weight of loss with the inevitability of death and healing alike.
'Save As’ offers exactly what its title describes: a record moving between fragments of thought and feeling with no real cohesion, stored and thought on for a long time. Through a competent blending of her signature indie folk and chamber pop sounds, Tonra lays the groundwork for her diaristic musings to find new life across the album. It’s another gem in her discography that, with each new addition, increasingly solidifies her as one of the most compelling indie voices today.
Liesel Bradbury
Image: ‘Save As’ Official Album Cover