Sherlock's Daughter

Sherlock's Daughter is New York's newest, awesomest band--"newest" as in, "they just moved here a few weeks ago." Freshly imported from Sydney, Australia, Sherlock's Daughter employ lush, speckled, swooping, diving slurpscapes that echo the snuggle-crackle of bands like Animal Collective and Broadcast, but with a poppier streak that aligns them with the sunniest of nu-indie. After spending a handful of years toiling in the Aussie underground, the entire band simply packed up and made the move over here after being invited to SXSW. The four boys now live together, commune-style, in a Bushwick loft and frontwoman Tanya Horo resides in "an Olympic swimming pool in Long Island City," adding, "It needs a clean, but it's pretty cool." The band's five-song EP came out last August. Its first single, "Kids," is a glorious rush, full of distended noises, circuit-bent tweedles, joyous stomps and--of course--a massive, harmony-soaked chorus. Here's to hoping they play with tons of shows with their new, like-minded neighbors Bear In Heaven, Dinosaur Feathers, and Twin Sister. - Villiage Voice

Sherlock’s Daughter

First up was Sherlock’s Daughter, recent New Yorkers by-way-of Australia. Drawing on influences as varied as dream-pop, Kraut rock and various subgenres of modern folk, their songs balance enchanting melodies with tribal rhythms and shoegazey guitars with a myriad of percussion, including a well-placed glockenspiel. The band seems to favor having songs start quietly and slowly, only to crescendo to a climatic end, while the gentle vocals of lead singer Tanya Horo are often amplified by dazzling group harmonies by bassist Liam Flanagan, guitarist Tim Maybury, keyboardist Jonti Danilewitz and drummer Will Russell.

The quintet has a charming and playful stage presence that found Horo dancing, or at one point, even skipping, across the stage, when not playing various instruments including guitar, keyboards and percussion. The brief set opened with “In The End,” and included “Reprise” and the lullaby-ish “Hush Little Baby.” There were also a couple of new songs from forthcoming album (produced by John Agnello), which is expected later in the year. The band finished off with “Song For Old People,” which started with group hand claps and had Horo doing a hypnotic dance with the tambourine, but not before she joked about the placed being so crowded because everyone had “crushes on the girls from Warpaint.” - Sentimentalist

Peering through the shadows of Oxford Art Factory, all eyes are glued to Tanya Horo. Glittering in a silver sequin leotard and exuding playground enthusiasm, the Sherlock’s Daughter frontwoman is about to lead us all down the rabbit hole. The Sydney five-piece are currently pied-piping down the East Coast, as they build toward the August release of their EP.

Tonight, the mercurial Horo beams to her bandmates and audience alike. Her sparkling, bouncy form invites you to lose yourself, if only for a while, in a dizzying indie-pop dreamscape.

The intro of Kids gives way to a masterful hook, as Horo compulsively hand-claps and shimmies her way through the entire tune. She is possibly having the time of her life during the outstanding Long Way. As she plonks down next to guitarist Tim Maybury, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were part of a slumber party in indie-rock Neverland. That feeling is accentuated when I notice keyboardist Jonti Anima has started mixing backing effects manually through a Nintendo DS.

Song For Old People begins as a sandpit-jam, before maturing into an understated anthem with feet tapping and hands clapping throughout the audience. It’s clear the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is in full swing as (not content to just produce their upcoming debut release), Jono Ma of Lost Valentinos spontaneously jumps onstage to help perform this tune – armed only with a double bass bow and an electric guitar.

Sherlock’s Daughter are brimming with multi-instrumental talent, swapping instruments a number of times through the show. There’s an especially strong onstage dynamic between Horo and Maybury. My only suggestion to them would be to make sure the audience is allowed to share in their (sometimes) introspective onstage relationship.

A real find in this group is the uber-talented Will Russell, whose driving, kinetic rhythms team comfortably with Liam Flanagan’s bass. Russell works the drums in a frenetic trance; slapping the back, front, rim, skin and any other part of the kit possible. His technique gives the live performance added energy, further underlining the band’s musical chops.

The gig comes to a rapturous close and the audience reluctantly returns to reality. I’m consoled by the fact that upon the August release of their EP, I can jump back down the rabbit-hole with Sherlock’s Daughter any time I like. - fasterlouder.com.au

Sherlock’s Daughter
5 Track, EP (2009, Independent)
Related: Sherlock's Daughter.

"Thank fuck for Animal Collective. Those crazy sons-of-bitches seem to have lit a flame under a lot of bands, many of whom seem to be coming out of Sydney, where acts have traditionally been hesitant to deviate from a commercially viable sound. Sherlock’s Daughter are perhaps the least experimental of the current flock of underground Sydney bands expanding their sonic palettes; a clique which includes Megastick Fanfare, Ghoul and Kyu. However, the progressive song structures, emphasis on repetition and multilayered, harmonised vocals feel inextricably tied with Animal Collective’s influence on the musical community.

But pastiche this is not. Twelve months in gestation, the self-titled EP from this quintet feels lovingly crafted, as though every microsecond of music has been examined with a sonic magnifying glass. Sculpted live before being committed to tape, Sherlock’s Daughter have teamed up with the Lost Valentinos’ Jono Ma, who shares a band – Soma For Kinder – with Sherlock’s vocalist Tanya Horo.

Ma has imbued the five tracks with an enveloping warmth and added little nuances that give you something different to listen to on every repeat. I love how the backing vocals in opener ‘Sons And Daughters’ sound eroded like a Delta blues recording from the 1930s, or how the menagerie of melodies duck and weave around Horo’s multitracked vocals on ‘In The End’.

Ma helps give conceptual continuity to a band who have the chutzpah to expand their arrangements. Though the post-rock melodies of ‘Sons and Daughters’ seem initially incongruous with the playful abandonment of the skittish ‘Kids’, it works within the context of the EP. Each track is layered almost to a symphonic degree: the chorus of voices, the blips and beeps tucked underneath the body of each song and the tower of instruments that help to create a blanket of sound. I’d recommend you listen to this EP at least once through headphones.

But above all else, it’s the striking tones of New Zealand expat Horo that become the focal point of their debut EP. With an inflection eerily reminiscent of Howling Bells’ Juanita Stein, Horo’s angelic voice helps reinforce the band’s MO of repetition-for-hypnosis. Her voice has a mantra-like effect on ‘Song For Old People’ and ‘Kids’, which – with its handclap ensemble and bicycle bell sample – sounds like a hippie commune run amuck in Lewis Carroll’s wonderland. This is definitely one EP that will send you tumbling down the rabbit hole."

by Dom Alessio
- www.messandnoise.com

"With archaic threads on their backs and flares in hand the five members of Sydney's Sherlock's Daughter meander across the Australian countryside with a sense of wonder and appetite for destruction that perfectly mirrors their sonic capabilities.

Theirs is a deftly balanced duality that oscillates wildly as electronic atmospherics drift between a menacing Krautrock rhythm section, the ethereal vocals of a rapturous frontwoman and a weirdly morose sense of resignation. But for all the pathos, there's a quiet mysticism in "Song For Old People", a lurching ode to past glories, forgotten childhoods and lives past that lets you believe everything will be alright. Both the video, which is beautifully shot, and Sherlock's Daughter's eclectic brand of dream pop bring to mind the childlike wonder of Peter Pan and The Lost Boys - in short, though growing up is inevitable it need not be a burden." - PedestrianTV - 'The House Of Pop Cult' www.pedestrian.tv

"...Sherlocks Daughter were effortlessly cool on stage, which made them an alternative and attention-grabbing group without any gimmicks. The crowd clearly respected this and listened to their harmonious and tantalising songs rather than talking through the performance. 'Song for Old People' was the crowd pleaser, warming up the audience as they brought out all sorts of instruments, including the tom-tom for a fun solo act. Their songs emphasised an aphrodisiac of mystery in a fantasy land, which was symbolic of their message, and of their only gimmick... facial makeup of four twisted dots on each performer."

(Review from Drum @ Metric)
- Drum Media (Sydney Street Press)

To view Sherlock's Daughter perform for MTV's Spankin' New Sessions:
http://www.mtv.com.au/videos/mtv-spankin-new-sessions-sherlocks-daughter-hush-little-baby-380179/?playlist=spankin-new-sessions-sherlocks-daughter

Reviews from our Australian tour with School Of Seven Bells:

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Fasterlouder (Melbourne 25/4)
"...The musical influences on their Myspace page cover the entire musical spectrum from Iron and Wine to Kraftwerk to John Cage and this is reflected in their live show. Kicking off with a euphoric single chord jam in the vein of Sterolab, it was an absolute belter, all kick drums and downstrums. Their music explored an interesting dynamic between metronomic instrumental sections, replete with 8-Bit synths and ambient atmospherics, and low key, shouted vocal parts from every member of the band, making great use of non-musical instruments, like sandpaper and a block of wood..."

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'REGRET' Blog (Brisbane 24/4)
"...Sydney quintet Sherlock’s Daughter manage to gain spirited and vocal applause despite audience members still trickling in at this stage of the night. Although no carbon copy of the headliners, they are a perfect support act for this evening, as they create a dreamy pop soundscape crammed with electronica, intuitive drumming, echo-drenched guitars and fine vocals from front woman Tanya (at times boosted further when blended with some imaginative group harmonies)..."

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Fasterlouder (Sydney, 23/4)
"...Sherlock’s Daughter approached the tried-and-tested alternative pop route with the kinds of new ideas and gravitas that once made the Howling Bells one of our most interesting exports. Watch this space...

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