The Debut Record "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Style
Within this song "Miss America", listeners find themselves in a hotel room near JFK airfield, where Jennifer Walton learns the devastating news of her father's illness diagnosis. The UK-raised performer was touring the US for the first time, drumming with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly grief casts a shadow, tinging all in grey. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration accompany gothic reports from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her gentle vocals are delivered in a flat manner, while this record's tension arises from the sharp penmanship—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and direct personal notes—coupled with unexpected maximalism. Not many tracks recently possess more potent novelistic style compared to "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of a deer and descends into a fuel-soaked confrontation, evoking written works lit by glimpses of distorted strings. Anxious, quiet sections with resonating, strummed strings move into grand refrains, and Walton's vocals electronically altered to become something omniscient and sinister.
Listeners might previously know Walton from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and member to bands like Caroline. Daughters' musical twists draw on her diverse background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in fanfare, as if an ensemble taken unawares, while "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM with a punishing, beautiful, repeating drum fill. Dense layers of audio, skillfully produced with a long-term partner, seem at once rough and ethereal, and Walton's morbid, magical thinking peak on highlight "Lambs", which momentarily transforms into a swirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she bargains, with poignant gallows humor.
