Britain’s Daughter (4AD) has built a big buzz and are headed through the States as we write, alighting in Seattle tomorrow night, San Francisco on Monday and LA on Tuesday (Halloween Eve) at the Bootleg Theater.  The buzz has been further emboldened following their recent appearance on the Letterman Show (see below) and their performance of captivating soul-burner Youth, one of the better coming-of-age songs we’ve heard in quite some time.  They have to date only released two EPs in The Wild Youth and His Young Heart and, most recently, the single Smother (listen below), but have already outgrown those strictures.  Having only listened to their songs for a week or so, we are completely hooked on the harrow.

The band is fronted by Elena Tonra and bears some sonic resemblance to the likes of Florence and a Brit-lilted Sharon Van Etten, but with more restraint than the former and much added to the melange by the spectral, layered guitar-play of Igor Haefel and drummer Remi Aguilella’s perfect percussive effects.  Their songs are tastefully opulent and often dulcet musically, but the lyrics tell tales of a tested heart and are delivered with a tenebrous timbre.  The combination takes us over.

Check out the Letterman Show performance of Youth (the lyrics of which follow the videos), followed by studio tracks of Run, Home, and the particularly affecting Smother (lyrics at very bottom), and then a black & white live capture of Youth and a vignette of Tonra’s beginnings on solo acoustic.

Youth on Letterman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZy_vVAUej8

Run:

Home:

Smother:

Youth at St. Giles Church:

Solo acoustic on In the Shallows:

Youth:

“Shadows settle on the place, that you left
Our minds are troubled by the emptiness
Destroy the middle, it’s a waste of time
From the perfect start to the finish line

And if you’re still breathing, you’re the lucky ones
‘Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs
Setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong
The lovers that went wrong

We are the reckless
We are the wild youth
Chasing visions of our futures
One day we’ll reveal the truth
That one will die before he gets there
And if you’re still bleeding, you’re the lucky ones
‘Cause most of our feelings, they are dead and they are gone
We’re setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting pictures from the flood that wrecked our home
It was a flood that wrecked this

And you caused it
And you caused it
And you caused it

Well I’ve lost it all, I’m just a silouhette
A lifeless face that you’ll soon forget
My eyes ae damp from the words you left
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest

And if you’re in love, then you are the lucky one
‘Cause most of us are bitter over someone
Setting fire to our insides for fun
To distract our hearts from ever missing them
But I’m forever missing him

And you caused it
And you caused it
And you caused it”

Smother:

“I’m wasted, losing time
I’m a foolish, fragile spine
I want all that is not mine
I want him but we’re not right
In the darkness I will meet my creators
And they will all agree, that I’m a suffocator

I should go now quietly
For my bones have found a place to lie down and sleep
Where all my layers can become reeds
All my limbs can become trees
All my children can become me
What a mess I leave
To follow (x4)

In the darkness I will meet my creators
They will all agree, I’m a suffocator
Suffocator (x2)

Oh no
I’m sorry if I smothered you (x2)
I sometimes wish I’d stayed inside
My mother
Never to come out”