The Debut Record "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Elegance
In the track "Miss America", listeners are placed in a lodging close to JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton learns a devastating update that her dad has illness discovery. The Sunderland-born performer had been traveling America for the first time, drumming with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly grief takes over, coloring all with melancholy. Unsteady piano and soft strings underscore dark reports emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her gentle vocals come across in a flat manner, while the record's intensity stems from her keen penmanship—mixing stories, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—along with surprising maximalism. Not many tracks this year possess stronger novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the death of a deer and descends toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, evoking written works illuminated by glimpses of distorted strings. Tense, quiet sections with echoing, strummed guitar move to grand choruses, with Walton's voice electronically altered to become a presence all-knowing and sinister.
Listeners might already know the artist as an electronic producer, DJ, and contributor in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect this varied career. The opener "Sometimes" erupts with flourish, as if a string band caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the tempo via an intense, beautiful, looping drum fill. Dense layers of audio, expertly mixed with a longtime partner, seem at once rough and ethereal, while her morbid, magical thoughts peak in highlight "Lambs", which briefly becomes a swirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she pleads, with heart-aching dark comedy.
