Billed as their most optimistic project to date, Daughter have returned from a five-year hiatus with a subtle message of hope, buried beneath a series of raw musings on how it feels to have loved and lost. Stereo Mind Game’s tone is set from the off with ‘Be On Your Way’, a strong opener as lead singer Elena Tonra bids farewell to a soon-to-be ex with the cutting line ‘I will meet you on another planet if the plans change’.

Tonra and her two accomplices, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella, have spent the last half decade focusing on other projects. Though the trio, now into their 30s, may have grown as individuals, their love lives have clearly remained tumultuous. ‘Sweet nothings from a ghost in the room/It gets so heavy when I think of you,’ Tonra sings on ‘Future Lover’, a tune that sees crushing blows delivered in near whisper over a mild backing track. This marks a quintessential example of a Daughter album cut that will endear long-term fans but may fall short of grabbing the attention of new listeners.

While pieces such as ‘Junkmail’ or ‘To Rage’ fail to leave much of a lasting impression, you’d surely be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t have their souls tugged by the likes of ‘Neptune’ or ‘Isolation’. The latter employs a stripped-back elegance to deliver what may well be one of the saddest songs released this year. Though Daughter don’t have an urge to explicitly tell us that everything will be OK, the album still leaves you feeling as though this was their intended message. Stereo Mind Game quietly assures us that it’s fine to not have everything figured out.

Stereo Mind Game is released by 4AD on Friday 7 April.