The First Album "Daughters" Explores Grief and Elegance
In this song "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a lodging near JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton learns a heartbreaking news of her father's cancer discovery. This UK-raised artist had been touring the US for the first time, playing with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and abruptly sadness casts a shadow, tinging all with melancholy. Unsteady keys and hushed orchestration accompany dark dispatches from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Her gentle singing are delivered with a deadpan style, while this album's tension arises from the sharp writing—blending stories, traditional phrases, and direct personal notes—coupled with surprising rich textures. Few songs recently showcase more potent novelistic style than "Shelly", a piece that describes the killing of an animal and descends into a petrol-laden reckoning, reminiscent of written works illuminated by flickers of distorted strings. Anxious, quiet sections with echoing, plucked guitar transition to grand refrains, with Walton's vocals electronically altered into a presence omniscient and menacing.
Audiences might previously know the artist as a music creator, DJ, and member in groups like Caroline. The album's sonic turns draw on her varied background. The opener "Sometimes" erupts with fanfare, as if a string band taken unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM via a punishing, beautiful, looping percussion. Thick walls of sound, skillfully produced by a long-term collaborator, feel both rough and ethereal, while Walton's morbid, enchanted thoughts culminate in standout "Lambs", a song that momentarily transforms into a twirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she pleads, with poignant gallows humor.
