Jennifer Walton's First Record "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Elegance

In the song "Miss America", listeners find themselves inside a lodging near JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton learns the devastating update that her dad has cancer diagnosis. This Sunderland-born performer was traveling the US on her initial visit, drumming alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness casts a shadow, tinging everything with melancholy. Faltering keys and hushed orchestration accompany gothic dispatches from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."

Her gentle vocals come across with a deadpan manner, while the record's tension arises from her keen writing—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—along with surprising maximalism. Not many songs recently showcase stronger novelistic style than "Shelly", which describes the killing of a deer and spirals toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, evoking written works illuminated with flickers of distorted cello. Anxious, quiet sections featuring resonating, plucked guitar move into grand choruses, with her vocals digitally manipulated into a presence all-knowing and menacing.

Listeners might already be familiar with Walton from her work as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and member in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on this varied background. The first track "Sometimes" bursts in flourish, as if a string band taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically ups the BPM with a punishing, beautiful, repeating percussion. Thick layers of audio, skillfully produced with a long-term partner, feel both rough and ethereal, and Walton's dark, magical thoughts peak in standout "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a swirling dance. "May your life never end in death," Walton pleads, exuding heart-aching dark comedy.