Elena Tonra (of beloved London indie-folk band Daughter) announces the return of cult-classic solo project Ex:Re with new album Save As, out on 30 October. Today, she shares the lead single ‘Radio Station’ along with a music video by Angela Ricciardi.
The title of album opener ‘Radio Station’, which begins with stately strummed acoustic guitar and morphs into a trippy song about an endless California road trip, is a metaphor for how Tonra feels about her mind. “The changing radio station is something I experience a lot – the push and pull of different feelings, and I end up getting stuck because I can’t make decisions,” she says. The song is formed from snippets of Tonra’s memories overlaid with scraps of overheard conversations. “I’ve ordered your coffee/Let’s fry all our money,” she sings, over a heady wall of guitars, fluttering synths and Prynn’s trudging yet persistent percussion.
Elena Tonra didn’t intend to write a second Ex:Re album. The lead singer of Daughter released a solo record in 2018 and had only ever conceived of one record proper under that moniker. But in 2023, when she took some sketches of songs she’d had for several years into the studio with Fabian Prynn, who produced the first Ex:Re album, the pair’s musical compatibility once again took hold, and Save As was born. Save As was produced by Fabian Prynn and also features Josephine Stephenson on cello, Hinako Omori on synthesisers, Ben Reed on bass and Jethro Fox on electric guitar.
There is no grand, overarching storyline to Save As. Rather, the album is the latest in Tonra’s catalogue that expertly chronicles the gnawing minutiae of human consciousness: the over-thinking that consumes us, and the places we travel to escape. Its central theme is how we remember these moments. “My memory is not always very good,” Tonra admits. By preserving images in songs, she gives herself a means to remember. Listening to or performing them “is like travelling back in time”.
Save As will be available from 30 October digitally, on CD, Standard Black Vinyl and Crystal Clear Vinyl.
Pre-order / pre-save Save As here.
