Ex:Re, the cult-classic alt-pop project of Elena Tonra (of beloved London indie-folk band Daughter), returns with a new album entitled Save As on October 30. Today, she shared a new single from the record entitled ‘Sleep‘, alongside a live session video, taped in the London 4AD studio by Cuan Roche.
Tonra remembers exactly where she was when she wrote ‘Sleep’ – and just how she was feeling. She was alone in Paris, where she recorded a demo in her hotel, a texture that lives on in the track’s final cut, which features a melodic loop made from the demo’s acoustic guitar run through a vocoder and a drum machine. There’s a muffled texture to that sound, like hearing a party through a wall. Tonra’s highly felt alt-pop is not the first genre you’d expect to hear on the dance floor, but ‘Sleep’ is “something that I’d dance to!”, she says. Its vibe is “late night, after hours” – and defies the song’s title. That demo recordings live on in many of the final cuts is key to the sentiment of Save As: this is where we got to; we could record more and more versions; but preserving what we’ve got now is what would be most true.
Last month, Tonra shared the lead single from Save As, ‘Radio Station’, alongside an official music video directed by Angela Ricciardi in Paris, as well as its own live session video, also filmed in the London 4AD studio. The track begins with stately strummed acoustic guitar and morphs into a trippy song about an endless California road trip, a metaphor for how Tonra feels about her mind sung over a heady wall of guitars, fluttering synths and Fabian Prynn’s trudging yet persistent percussion.
Ex:Re – Sleep (Live)
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. To pre-order and for more information, head HERE.
30 October 2026 | 4AD 0944
Formats: Digital, CD, Standard Black LP, Crystal Clear LPE
1. Radio Station
2. Sleep
3. Am I Even Real?
4. Two Chords
5. Save As
6. Frozen Aisle
7. Wasp
8. Language of Love
9. Healing (Slow)
ABOUT Ex:Re
Ex:Re (pronounced ex ray) is the solo project of Elena Tonra from the London indie-folk band Daughter. Taking on a creative moniker, she chose Ex:Re as a way to look inside and see what is really there. Ex:Re’s self-titled debut album was released in 2018, a deeply personal record that was made with both a sense of urgency and a cathartic need.
Elena Tonra’s candid solo songs are written like unsent letters to herself and others, and the perfect mingling of liveliness and deep thoughtfulness on upcoming album Save As is the most recent return of her signature highly felt alt-pop.
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