The Debut Album "Daughters" Explores Grief and Style
Within the track "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a hotel room near JFK airfield, where the musician receives the heartbreaking news that her dad has cancer diagnosis. This UK-raised performer was touring America for the first time, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly sadness takes over, tinging all in grey. Unsteady keys and hushed strings underscore dark reports emanating from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Her soft singing come across in a deadpan style, while the record's tension arises from her keen penmanship—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and direct personal notes—along with unexpected maximalism. Not many tracks recently possess stronger novelistic style than "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of an animal and spirals toward a fuel-soaked confrontation, reminiscent of written works illuminated with flickers of warped strings. Anxious, quiet sections with resonating, strummed guitar move into expansive choruses, with Walton's voice digitally manipulated to become a presence omniscient and menacing.
Listeners may previously be familiar with the artist from her work as a music creator, DJ, and member to bands like Caroline. Daughters' musical twists reflect this varied background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in fanfare, like an ensemble taken by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM with an intense, beautiful, repeating percussion. Thick layers of audio, expertly mixed by a long-term collaborator, seem at once gnarly and spiritual, and her dark, enchanted thoughts peak on standout "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a swirling jig. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, with heart-aching gallows humor.
