The First Album "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Elegance
In this song "Miss America", listeners find themselves in a lodging near JFK airport, as the musician learns a devastating update that her dad has illness discovery. The Sunderland-born artist was traveling the US on her initial visit, drumming with group Kero Kero Bonito, and abruptly grief casts a shadow, coloring everything in grey. Faltering piano and hushed strings accompany dark dispatches emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her gentle vocals are delivered in a flat manner, yet the record's tension stems from her keen penmanship—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and direct personal notes—coupled with unexpected rich textures. Not many tracks this year possess stronger storytelling style than "Shelly", a piece that describes the killing of a deer and spirals toward a petrol-laden reckoning, evoking literary pieces lit by flickers of distorted cello. Anxious, quiet sections with echoing, plucked guitar transition into grand choruses, with her voice electronically altered into a presence omniscient and sinister.
Audiences might previously know the artist from her work as a music creator, DJ, and member in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on her varied background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in flourish, like a string band taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the tempo with a punishing, beautiful, looping percussion. Dense walls of sound, expertly mixed by a longtime partner, feel both rough and ethereal, while her dark, magical thinking culminate on highlight "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a twirling dance. "May your life never end in death," Walton pleads, with heart-aching dark comedy.
