Album Review: Gracie Abrams – Daughter from Hell
3 min read
Gracie Abrams has evolved from intimate, bedroom-style confessionals into sold-out arenas, Grammy recognition, and a reputation as one of the defining singer-songwriters of this generation. Despite the inevitable Taylor Swift comparisons, Abrams carved out her niche with raw, introspective vocals, and songwriting that’s unafraid to expose every emotional bruise. Daughter from Hell, released via Interscope Records, is her third studio album – the title suggesting a more self-aware and confrontational side to the artist who has typically turned inward rather than outward, and hints at embracing a little more fire than previously. But does Daughter from Hell see Abrams burn brighter than ever? Let’s find out…
Starting strong, Hit the Wall, musically simple with barely more than light synth aside from a very bass-y single notes, but lyrically does wonders in describing the range of conflicting feelings that someone with avoidant attachment goes through, which is followed by Death Wish which is well known by fans who have seen her live – though with a lighter feel in the studio version. The Knife uses piano with guitar and drums in a track which (to me) is about the feeling after and around betrayal… the repetition of “this should be the last time”, in particular, will resonate with many, and is followed by title track Daughter from Hell which uses heavy distortion on the electric guitar to help convey the problem child feeling. Look at My Life gives off that American indie synth feel to it in the downside of blind pursuit of goals (probably my favourite track btw), while Good Reason is a sad slow track where your lover loves you more than you love them (possibly another avoidant attachment track), where musically Men Like You Gracie hits the goosebump-inducing, higher side of her vocal range in the later choruses. Another simple musical arrangement, Sober feels like her earlier work, while Broke My Heart feels a little Tori Amos in the use of piano and vocals… and that’s nothing other than a flat-out compliment, by the way!
Mews is painfully obviously about the loss of a friendship, and is followed by more US indie synth instrumentation (a format I think suits her vocals perfectly) in Minibar, to the melancholy lyrics of longing for the interaction of a someone in Imaginary Friend, to the almost back-handed love song that is Afflictions, and the simple despair of life where everything seems to not live up to postcard expectations that is so eloquently described in Humming. Penultimate track What If It’s Right? is a collab with Marcus Mumford – a vocal mesh that just works, and you can hear the Mumford influence on the music arrangement of the track, and we finish off with Cold Goodbyes – the perfect end to the album, with great use of haunting keyboard minimally where the lyrics again take their morose centre stage.
Daughter from Hell isn’t a “happy mood” album, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good – because it is. Through darker moments of my younger years, I would often turn to Damien Rice’s O, and Gracie Abrams has produced an album that, for many, will serve the same role that Damien Rice’s album did for me…and, believe me, that is praise of the highest order. There are some tracks that worked better for me than others, but you cannot knock the lyricism and musical pairing on display from start to end. Definitely not an album to listen to lift your spirits, but sometimes it’s good to sit and wallow in sadness, isn’t it?
