The First Record "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Style
In this song "Miss America", audiences are placed in a hotel room close to JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton learns a heartbreaking news of her father's illness diagnosis. The UK-raised artist had been traveling America on her initial visit, drumming with group Kero Kero Bonito, and abruptly grief takes over, tinging everything with melancholy. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration underscore dark dispatches from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Walton's gentle vocals are delivered with a flat style, yet this album's intensity arises from her sharp penmanship—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—along with surprising rich textures. Few tracks this year possess more potent novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which describes the death of an animal and descends toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, reminiscent of literary works lit with flickers of distorted strings. Tense, quiet verses featuring resonating, plucked strings transition to expansive refrains, with Walton's voice electronically altered into something omniscient and sinister.
Listeners might already be familiar with the artist from her work as a music creator, DJ, and member to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists reflect her varied career. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with fanfare, as if a string band caught by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the tempo with an intense, beautiful, looping percussion. Thick walls of sound, skillfully produced by a longtime collaborator, feel both rough and spiritual, and her morbid, magical thoughts culminate in standout "Lambs", a song that momentarily transforms into a swirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she bargains, exuding poignant gallows humor.
