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Daughter2

Daughter is a critically acclaimed, award-winning, English indie and neo-folk band who composed the original score for Life is Strange: Before the Storm.[1] The band consists of vocalist and writer Elena Tonra, bassist Igor Haefeli and drummer Remi Aguilella.

A standalone album featuring Daughter's work for the game entitled "Music from Before the Storm" released on September 1, 2017, one day after Episode 1's release.[2] The first single promo release of the song "Burn It Down" was released on August 8, 2017.

Background[]

On the Reddit AMA in August 2017, Co-Game Director Chris Floyd explained that the developing team "listened to dozens of tracks looking for those songs that would 1) capture Chloe's rebel spirit and 2) nicely underscore the most powerful scenes in our story. In that process, [they] constantly gravitated around the rich, beautiful, emotional music of Daughter, which led to us asking them to provide our score."[3]

Daughter's soundtrack is meant to be a key to telling the game's emotional story, focusing primarily on protagonist Chloe Price, the thematic anchor for the creation process. Square Enix's Jon Brooke explained that, "Life is Strange is a game that evokes a lot of emotion in people and, alongside great storytelling and characterization, [its music] plays a huge role in this," adding that's why the developer turned to indie band Daughter to create the game's music.[4]

Writing and composing an original soundtrack for a video game is a first time project of this kind for the band. The band didn't know anything about Life is Strange at the time they were approached, but as they started to get to know more about the game, they felt like it really spoke to them. “This is a story that really echoes what we talk about in our music,” says Elena. “It’s based in reality, and the human experience, in core things we can all relate to. Chloe is a real person, depicting relatable experiences.”[5] Elena explains that they, "loved the story on first read as it centers around realistic female lead characters who are emotional, intelligent, sensitive and badass in equal measure. I think the characters themselves have really inspired the soundscapes we have created"[4]

The band worked from scripts and concept artwork provided by Deck Nine, alongside the movie references that were inspiring particular scenes. “They wanted to stick to the atmosphere of the first game,” says Igor, “but with the tone slightly changed, because now you’re playing as Chloe, not Max, and Chloe is this louder, more brash personality.”[5]

The recording process took Daughter, their line-up completed by drummer Remi Aguilella, about three months — less time than they’d spend on their own albums.

“Regardless of how these songs were to be used in the game, we wanted them to be able to stand on their own,” Igor says. “We wanted this to be something that people who weren’t playing the game could enjoy, too. And we were encouraged to follow our intuition, too — Deck Nine came to us because they liked what we’d already been doing, on past records.”

The band worked almost non-stop for the first half of 2017 writing and recording the score with Tonra and Haefeli plugging away in a rented studio together while drummer Remi Aguilella recorded his parts from his home base in Portland, OR.[6]

“There are a few songs where I started writing from the main character Chloe’s perspective and slowly finding myself morphing the song into one of my own teenage memories or talking about her grief and relating it to someone I miss terribly,” Tonra tells Billboard. “I would get to the end of the song and think ‘Oh dear. I’m talking about that person again’ but it made it an unexpectedly therapeutic experience.”

(TBC)

Featured Tracks[]

Composed Tracks[]

  1. Glass
  2. Burn It Down
  3. Flaws
  4. Hope
  5. The Right Way Around
  6. Witches
  7. Departure
  8. All I Wanted
  9. I Can't Live Here Anymore
  10. Dreams of William
  11. Improve
  12. Voices
  13. A Hole in the Earth

Licensed Tracks[]

Trivia[]

  • Elena grew up playing video games such as Zelda, which is why working on a game soundtrack represents some kind of reconnection with her childhood. It also gets her excited to have a new audience that will listen to her music.[5]
  • The song "Dreams of William" was called "With Without" at some point. The name can be seen in the Deluxe Edition announcement trailer and as an internal name "Daughter-WithWithout".[7]

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