The First Album "Daughters" Explores Sorrow and Style
Within this track "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a lodging near JFK airfield, where the musician receives a devastating news of her father's cancer discovery. The UK-raised artist had been touring the US on her initial visit, playing with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and suddenly grief casts a shadow, coloring everything in grey. Faltering piano and hushed strings accompany gothic dispatches from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her gentle singing are delivered with a deadpan manner, while the album's intensity arises from the sharp penmanship—mixing stories, traditional phrases, and direct diary entries—coupled with unexpected maximalism. Not many tracks recently showcase stronger novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the killing of a deer and spirals toward a petrol-laden confrontation, reminiscent of literary works illuminated with glimpses of distorted cello. Tense, quiet verses with resonating, plucked guitar move into expansive choruses, and her voice electronically altered to become something all-knowing and sinister.
Audiences might already know Walton as a music creator, DJ, and contributor to bands like Caroline. Daughters' sonic turns draw on this varied background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, as if an ensemble caught unawares, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically ups the BPM via an intense, beautiful, repeating percussion. Dense layers of audio, skillfully produced with a longtime partner, seem at once gnarly and ethereal, while her morbid, magical thoughts culminate in standout "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a swirling dance. "May your life never end in death," she bargains, exuding poignant gallows humor.