Daughter of Swords Release Country-Tinged Single “Fields of Gold”

Alexandra Sauser-Monnig has been performing folk music for more than a decade, most notably as part of the acclaimed trio Mountain Man. Under her new moniker Daughter of Swords, Sauser-Monnig adds noticeable country and lo-fi elements to her sparse, plucked-guitar sound.

“Fields of Gold” is the fourth release from Daughter of Swords’ debut album, Dawnbreaker, following “Shining Woman,” “Dawnbreaker” and “Gem.” The fourth single, co-produced with Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn, has a more pronounced country-pop bent than its predecessors thanks to a steel guitar that shimmers like a concrete highway on a sunny day. A rolling cymbal and a shaker give a sense of motion appropriate for a song about driving, golden wheat whipping by on either side. Over the delicate instrumentation, Sauser-Monnig sings about the escapist pleasures of country roads: “Sometimes I can almost feel / Like I’ve left behind the crushing real.” She does for the American interstate’s “dotted white line trance” what Kraftwerk did for the Autobahn’s “fun”—create an ode to a feeling.

Dawnbreaker is out next Friday, June 28, on Nonesuch Records.

Listen to “Fields of Gold” below, check out Daughter of Swords’ 2019 Paste session and tour itinerary further down, and revisit the details of Dawnbreaker here.

Daughter of Swords Tour Dates:

June
20 – Charlotte, N.C. @ Knight Theater ^
21 – Wilmington, N.C. @ Greenfield Lake Amphitheater ^
23 – Baltimore, Md. @ Rams Head Live ^

July
12 – Richmond, Va. @ Richmond Music Hall ~

August
09 – New Haven, Conn. @ College Street Music Hall #

September
07 – Raleigh, N.C. @ Hopscotch Music Fest

November
17 – New York, N.Y. @ Beacon Theatre *
18 – New York, N.Y. @ Beacon Theatre *

(^ – with Mandolin Orange)
(~ – with Andy Jenkins)
(# – with Mountain Goats)
(* – with Sylvan Esso)