The First Record "Daughters" Explores Sorrow and Elegance
In the track "Miss America", audiences are placed in a lodging close to JFK airfield, as Jennifer Walton receives the devastating update that her dad has cancer discovery. The UK-raised artist was touring the US for the first time, playing with group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, coloring everything with melancholy. Faltering keys and soft strings accompany dark reports from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Her gentle vocals come across in a flat style, while the record's tension arises from the keen writing—mixing fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—along with surprising maximalism. Few tracks recently possess stronger novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the death of an animal and descends toward a fuel-soaked confrontation, reminiscent of written works illuminated with flickers of distorted cello. Tense, quiet verses with resonating, plucked guitar transition to expansive choruses, and her vocals electronically altered into a presence all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners might previously be familiar with the artist from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and contributor to bands such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on her varied background. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, like an ensemble caught unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo via a punishing, stunning, repeating percussion. Thick layers of audio, skillfully produced by a long-term collaborator, feel at once rough and ethereal, and Walton's dark, enchanted thoughts peak in highlight "Lambs", which momentarily transforms into a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, exuding poignant gallows humor.