The Debut Record "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Elegance
In this track "Miss America", audiences are placed inside a hotel room near JFK airfield, as the musician receives the devastating update that her dad has cancer diagnosis. This Sunderland-born performer was traveling the US on her initial visit, playing with group Kero Kero Bonito, and suddenly sadness casts a shadow, coloring everything with melancholy. Unsteady piano and soft orchestration accompany gothic reports from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her gentle singing come across in a flat style, while the album's tension arises from her keen penmanship—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt personal notes—along with surprising maximalism. Not many songs recently possess stronger storytelling flair than "Shelly", a piece that depicts the killing of a deer and spirals into a petrol-laden reckoning, evoking written pieces lit with glimpses of warped strings. Anxious, quiet sections featuring resonating, plucked strings move into grand choruses, with her voice electronically altered to become something omniscient and sinister.
Audiences may previously be familiar with Walton as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and member in groups like Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect her diverse career. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with fanfare, like a string band taken by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo via an intense, stunning, repeating percussion. Thick walls of sound, skillfully produced by a longtime partner, seem at once rough and ethereal, while Walton's dark, enchanted thinking culminate in standout "Lambs", a song that momentarily transforms into a swirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she pleads, with poignant gallows humor.