The Debut Album "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Elegance
In the track "Miss America", listeners are placed in a hotel room close to JFK airport, as Jennifer Walton receives the heartbreaking update that her dad has cancer diagnosis. The Sunderland-born artist was traveling the US on her initial visit, playing with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly sadness casts a shadow, tinging everything with melancholy. Unsteady piano and hushed orchestration accompany gothic reports emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Her gentle vocals are delivered with a flat manner, yet this album's tension arises from the sharp penmanship—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—coupled with unexpected rich textures. Few songs recently possess more potent novelistic flair than "Shelly", a piece that depicts the death of an animal and descends into a petrol-laden reckoning, reminiscent of written pieces illuminated with glimpses of warped cello. Anxious, subdued sections with resonating, strummed strings move to grand choruses, with her voice electronically altered into something all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners may already know the artist as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor in groups like Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect this varied background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in flourish, like an ensemble caught by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo with an intense, stunning, repeating drum fill. Thick walls of sound, skillfully mixed with a long-term collaborator, seem both gnarly and ethereal, while Walton's morbid, magical thinking culminate on standout "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton pleads, with poignant dark comedy.
