The First Album "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Style
Within this track "Miss America", listeners are placed in a lodging near JFK airport, as Jennifer Walton receives the devastating update that her dad has illness diagnosis. This Sunderland-born performer was touring America for the first time, drumming alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness casts a shadow, tinging all with melancholy. Faltering keys and soft strings accompany gothic dispatches from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Walton's soft vocals are delivered in a flat style, while this record's tension arises from the sharp writing—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and direct diary entries—coupled with surprising maximalism. Few songs this year showcase stronger storytelling style than "Shelly", which depicts the death of an animal and spirals into a petrol-laden confrontation, evoking written works lit with glimpses of distorted cello. Tense, quiet verses featuring resonating, plucked guitar transition into expansive refrains, and her vocals digitally manipulated into a presence omniscient and sinister.
Audiences might previously know the artist from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and contributor to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists draw on this diverse career. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with fanfare, as if a string band taken by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM via a punishing, beautiful, repeating drum fill. Dense walls of sound, expertly produced by a longtime partner, feel both gnarly and ethereal, and her morbid, enchanted thinking culminate in standout "Lambs", which briefly transforms into a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton pleads, exuding heart-aching gallows humor.
