Elena Tonra is the lead singer of Daughter, and Ex:Re - her solo project - is very much a different side of the same coin. Where Daughter deals in heartbreakingly fragile indie-folk, Ex:Re is still interior but more assured; alt-pop that chronicles the gnawing minutiae of consciousness.
Her self-titled debut in 2018 was a cult classic. She never intended to make a second one. Then in 2023 she took some sketches into the studio with producer Fabian Prynn and here we are, with new album āSave Asā out later this month.
New single āSleepā was written and demoed alone in a Paris hotel room, and that texture lives on in the final cut; an acoustic guitar run through a vocoder and a drum machine, muffled and late-night, something you might hear bleeding through a wall.
Tonra describes it as āsomething Iād dance toā, which is not the first thing youād expect, but makes complete sense once you hear it.
Shot in black and white, the live video is impressive in its execution of simplicity. Prynnās drumming mimics a drum machine with an almost unnerving precision.
āSave Asā is out 30 Oct. The in-store shows are already sold out.
š§ Watch āSleepā performed live below