It’s hard to pin Daisy Warne down. This is an artist who only released her debut track in 2018 but who has restlessly pushed and probed at her sound ever since. Someone who, as part of the GLOO collective, has created forward-looking, thrillingly inventive music. She’s also someone with a clear, singular vision: her last album, MiiRROR, was accompanied by a book and an alternative reality game. All this feverish world building makes it hard to try and second guess her next move.
Yet her 2022 mixtape SCREAMER saw her hit on a form of creation that pointed a way forward for her. On it she wrote from the perspective of her younger sister, tackling her struggles with BPD. Now here, on DareDeviil2000, assisted by talent like Grove, Warpstr and Iglooghost, she tells stories featuring hooligans, gargoyles and goblins. That may sound cartoonish but she uses those characters to explore deeper issues like where violence comes from, why people follow certain paths and looks at those who are unwanted in society.
The fact that each song corresponds to a separate sin makes it a concept record of sorts. But these high-minded ideas never get in the way of the music. And, like SCREAMER, it’s the way she explores her personal relationships that ensures there’s a beating heart amid the jagged sounds. Characters are used to reflect upon her relationship with her late father and his use of aggression as a defence mechanism.
From the start the songs match this sense of force and violence that she’s exploring, beginning with ‘Static’, a track that perfects her trick of pairing her ethereal energy with abrasive production choices. ‘Sweet Tooth’ rumbles and glitches, a soundtrack to her exploring themes of addiction and indulgence, while ‘Tra$$$her’ is a standout: a delicious, swaggering tune with a throbbing bassline about smash and grab crime and taking whatever you want.
It makes for a thrilling journey. But then it’s gone in thirty-one genre-bending minutes. It doesn’t all work. ‘M25’ never reaches the full throttle heights it hints at but in that short time we’re taken on a joyride of techno, electronica, grime, UKG and R&B.
It climaxes with the brilliant, ricocheting bounce of ‘Scarface’, written about her dad’s betrayal of his own father and going “off the rails”. “Did I hurt you?” she asks, her dreamy vocals gliding over the jittering beats as she assumes the role of her dad. She sings of broken promises, echoing the record’s themes of violence and betrayal. But it’s also a reminder that, though this album deals with society at large, it’s deeply personal at its core.
