Daisy Chapman Took Flight

Okay, so, if I praised the Bradford Roots Festival last weekend and claimed to have had a fantastic time, it’s all as true as Harrison Ford retelling Daisy Ridley about the Force, with one embarrassing hiccup!

Finally, for a brief moment between closing fire doors I met Trowbridge-based singer-songwriter extraordinaire, Daisy Chapman. She was going in, with her daughter badgering her for ice cream, and I was wandering out, assuring her I’d check the release date of the album she had kindly sent me for review. All a bit embarrassing on my part, I should’ve checked prior, She Took Flight came out in May last year, so opps, apologies, I’m late for the party, again!

Maybe this Daisy has equal power over the Force as Daisy Ridley, granddaughter of the Sith emperor Palpatine, or maybe she’s thinking, please don’t make Star Wars references when reviewing my album, you stupid fanboy! but wowzers, this is one magically epic and euphoric seven-track strong album only a Jedi could’ve made!

I wasn’t going in blind though, fondly reviewing her 2017 album Good Luck Songs, albeit belated again, in 2021. By way of comparing the two, I’d say while as the name suggests, Good Luck Songs is a sublime selection of songs with random muses, She Took Flight is concentrated on a theme and flows much better, with an overall narrative of life, motherhood, loss and love. Far be it to suggest it’s a concept album, but the thought, perhaps, is.

Dare I also suggest, akin to how Taylor Swift has financially benefited bending the folk rulebook to incorporate pop, Daisy folds similar, uniquely through dramatic piano and violin to define a confident euphoric and epic sound, like a musical classic. Though, with elements from so many sources and influences, to create something inspiring and enchanting, something she defines as “anti-folk,” I call it, in a word, enchanting. The uplifting musical reference is particularly true in the opening tune, Starlight, it’s a grand start.

Porcelain draws again on the epic, though incoming is Daisy’s refined and expertly crafted writing, often of arduous or dejected souls. This song drawn from a diary entry of the day her father died in hospital. Though there’s optimistic prose, as if life is starting over, only to be knocked back by the darker, probably most beguiling tune of the album, Womxn.

Over a subtle drumbeat the piano cruises like a well-oiled machine, and Daisy’s voice enchants like Kate Bush at her finest. Womxn’ chronicles a list of women
whose work was credited by men.

At the summit of the album lies the only cover, a perfect rendition of The Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset, this sunny side of the street against all odds concept is gallantly captured, and Daisy makes this song her own. I couldn’t think of another song so absolutely fitting for this journey, which mood changes with such gorgeous subtly, it’s breath-taking.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies will then twist the narrative of the theme. An abject abecedarian, inspired by Idilia Dubb, a girl who met her fate trapped up a tower in 1851, and various other historic tragedies. Herein lies Daisy’s writing influence, the likes of Leonard Cohen, and her ability to weave magic in her wordplay.

Wind Horses takes on the penultimate melancholic trip to insure you’re suitably impressed before this amazing album ends, a poignant piece, a cinematic nod to all who’ve attempted to climb the world’s highest peaks.

Then there’s something downhearted lounge-room jazz about the building layers of Ballad of a Distracted Mother finishing you off in no uncertain terms, Daisy Chapman’s voice is breathtaking, her writing astute and perceptive, and the dramatic string arrangements over her own ‘Nymanesque’ piano makes a this harmonic composition truly something to behold.

After forming bands at University in Bristol, Daisy released her first solo album
in 2004, a collection of sombre songs for just vocals and piano. Her cover of Cohen’s Halleujah proved hugely popular at the time on the iTunes chart and caught the attention of German label ‘Songs & Whispers’ who have since formed a 15 year relationship with Daisy, booking her shows across Europe and beyond.

Another cover song, Umbrella, received her an International Independent Music Award (USA) in 2009, which inspired a self-booked tour of coffee houses up and down Highway One on California’s Pacific Coast. Upon returning to the UK, Daisy was asked to be part of super-group Crippled Black Phoenix alongside members of Portishead and Hawkwind.

I’m sorry to have her performance at Bradford Roots, and wonder why they put an artist of this calibre on so early, but after hearing this I endeavour to catch her live as soon as, and I believe you will too. Find out more about Daisy Chapman, here.