The Debut Album "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Style
Within the song "Miss America", listeners are placed in a hotel room near JFK airfield, as Jennifer Walton learns a devastating update of her father's illness discovery. This UK-raised artist was traveling the US for the first time, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness casts a shadow, coloring everything with melancholy. Faltering keys and soft orchestration accompany dark dispatches from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Walton's gentle singing are delivered in a deadpan style, yet the record's tension arises from the sharp penmanship—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—along with unexpected maximalism. Not many tracks recently possess more potent novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the killing of an animal and spirals into a petrol-laden reckoning, reminiscent of written works lit with glimpses of distorted strings. Anxious, quiet verses with resonating, plucked strings transition into grand refrains, and Walton's voice electronically altered into something omniscient and sinister.
Audiences might previously be familiar with the artist as a music creator, DJ, and contributor to bands like Caroline. Daughters' musical twists draw on this varied career. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in flourish, like an ensemble caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the BPM with an intense, beautiful, looping drum fill. Thick layers of audio, skillfully mixed by a longtime collaborator, seem both gnarly and spiritual, and Walton's morbid, enchanted thoughts culminate in standout "Lambs", a song that briefly transforms into a twirling dance. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, exuding poignant gallows humor.
