The Debut Record "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Style
In this track "Miss America", listeners find themselves inside a hotel room close to JFK airport, as the musician receives the heartbreaking news of her father's cancer discovery. This UK-raised artist was traveling America on her initial visit, playing with group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, coloring all with melancholy. Faltering piano and hushed strings underscore dark reports from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her soft vocals are delivered in a deadpan manner, while the album's tension arises from the sharp penmanship—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—along with surprising maximalism. Few tracks this year showcase more potent novelistic style compared to "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of an animal and spirals toward a petrol-laden reckoning, evoking literary works lit with flickers of distorted cello. Anxious, subdued sections with echoing, plucked guitar move to grand refrains, and her vocals electronically altered to become something all-knowing and menacing.
Audiences may previously know Walton from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and member to bands like Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on this diverse background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with fanfare, as if a string band caught unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically ups the tempo with an intense, beautiful, repeating percussion. Thick layers of audio, skillfully mixed with a longtime collaborator, seem both rough and spiritual, while her morbid, enchanted thinking culminate on highlight "Lambs", which briefly transforms into a swirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton pleads, with heart-aching gallows humor.
