The First Record "Daughters" Explores Grief and Style
In the track "Miss America", listeners are placed in a lodging close to JFK airfield, where the musician learns a heartbreaking news of her father's cancer discovery. This Sunderland-born performer had been traveling the US on her initial visit, playing alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly sadness casts a shadow, coloring all with melancholy. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration underscore gothic reports emanating from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Walton's soft vocals are delivered in a flat manner, yet the album's intensity arises from her keen penmanship—blending fiction, folksy sayings, and blunt personal notes—coupled with unexpected maximalism. Few songs this year possess more potent novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of a deer and descends into a fuel-soaked confrontation, reminiscent of literary pieces lit with flickers of distorted strings. Tense, subdued sections featuring resonating, plucked guitar transition into grand refrains, and her voice electronically altered to become something all-knowing and sinister.
Listeners might previously know the artist as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor in groups such as Caroline. The album's sonic turns draw on this diverse career. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, as if an ensemble caught unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically ups the BPM with an intense, beautiful, repeating percussion. Dense walls of sound, expertly produced with a long-term collaborator, feel both rough and spiritual, while Walton's dark, enchanted thinking peak on standout "Lambs", which briefly transforms into a swirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, with heart-aching dark comedy.
