Emerging Brooklyn-based female duo Daisy The Great is a volcano of inspirations and ideas and their music clearly reflects it.
Earlier this year, the duo released a Simon & Garfunkel cover of “Scarborough Fair” while debuting a brand new single “Persephone” today. The new music marks yet another release from Brooklyn-based record label Better Company, which was founded in 2020 by San Fermin bandleader Ellis Ludwig-Leone and lead vocalist Allen Tate.
In conjunction with the release, the group debuted a music video for “Persephone,” which features a well-known dancer Matilda Sakamoto who has made appearances in an Apple AirPod promo video alongside Shura’s “Religion” music video.
“‘Persephone’ was inspired by following the thread of the sirens as former companions of the Greek Goddess Persephone, who asked for wings in order to search for her after she was abducted by Hades. Their infamous siren song was a continuous calling out to the lost Persephone,” says frontwomen Kelley Nicole Dugan and Mina Walker.
“The music video shows our siren, played by the glorious Matilda Sakamoto, toying with the general societal definition of herself as a vixen monster, while craving something far more important and true. The video is about longing for a love that can see you for who you truly are. Maybe that love is from Persephone, maybe it’s from yourself.”
The mythological and suggestive figure of the siren is the representation of their intimate, tactile lyrical observations that’s depicted in their song which almost seems to want to emulate the mystical traits sirens are known for.
Kelley and Mina create an inviting, playful sound by combining the heavenly harmonies of First Aid Kit, the vulnerable plucking of Kimya Dawson, and the robust sincerity of Lucy Dacus. Over the last couple of years, the pair has supported acts like Indigo Girls, Sidney Gish, and Samia.
Their influences are all over the board however they love “artists that tend to do their own thing,” specifies Mina.
“I have a whole playlist made of 60s tunes just for the shower, one just for walking which is a combination of artists like Lauryn Hill, Queen, Megan Thee Stallion, Ariana Grande, Lil Sims and more.”
As far as their forthcoming album goes, Kelley reveals, “A lot of the songs are new but many others are some of our favorite tunes to play live and are pretty much the roots of our live shows.”
“When this album comes out people will hear how the studio aspect perfectly meets the live show elements. Our performances are usually pretty different from our recorded music which, that’s why I think this record is the perfect mix of the two,” Mina adds.
When we asked them about the origin of their name, they put it this way, “We were walking down somewhere in Manhattan and started brainstorming names for our newly born band and Daisy The Great just came up.”
“We both thought it was perfect because it perfectly represents something delicate while emphasizing the power in it.”
What more is there to say?
