The First Album "Daughters" Explores Grief and Style
Within this song "Miss America", listeners find themselves inside a lodging near JFK airfield, as Jennifer Walton learns a heartbreaking update that her dad has illness diagnosis. This UK-raised performer was traveling the US on her initial visit, playing alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, tinging all with melancholy. Faltering piano and hushed strings underscore gothic dispatches from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Walton's gentle vocals are delivered in a flat style, while this record's tension stems from the keen penmanship—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—along with surprising maximalism. Few tracks recently possess more potent storytelling flair compared to "Shelly", a piece that describes the killing of an animal and descends into a petrol-laden confrontation, evoking literary works lit with glimpses of warped cello. Tense, quiet sections with echoing, strummed guitar move into expansive choruses, with Walton's vocals electronically altered into something all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners might previously be familiar with Walton from her work as an electronic producer, DJ, and member to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' sonic turns draw on her diverse background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in fanfare, like an ensemble taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically ups the BPM via a punishing, beautiful, looping percussion. Dense walls of sound, expertly mixed by a longtime partner, feel at once gnarly and ethereal, and her dark, enchanted thinking peak on highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily transforms into a twirling dance. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, exuding heart-aching gallows humor.
