Daughter of Swords

Daughter of Swords, the project of North Carolina singer-songwriter Alex Sauser-Monnig (they/she), who has previously released music with bands Mountain Man and The A’s, releases her new solo album, Alex, out now via Psychic Hotline.

Across the last several years since the release of her debut album, Dawnbreaker, Daughter of Swords’ music has grown thornier, an unpredictable and knotty tangle of technicolor synths, heady guitar, bubbling rhythms, a sheen enveloping songs about raw human intensity writ large – crushes, desire, anger, alienation, the horrors of late-stage capitalism, the cascading paradigm shifts it seems we're all hurtling toward. Nothing exemplifies this more than lead single “Talk To You,” released in Feb alongside a gonzo music video directed by frequent collaborator Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso).

There’s a sharp cerebral tension between the stories at the core of the album and the electrifying, playful buoyancy of the sound, the wink with which Sauser-Monnig can deliver a withering observation. Reckoning with pleasure-seeking, boundary-breaking, and their place in the world, Alex heralds a fresh chapter of exploration and liberation for Sauser-Monnig, yielding the truest representation of their identity via song yet.