Jennifer Walton's Debut Album "Daughters" Explores Grief and Style
In this song "Miss America", audiences find themselves inside a hotel room near JFK airport, where the musician receives a devastating update that her dad has cancer discovery. The Sunderland-born artist was traveling America for the first time, drumming alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly grief takes over, coloring all in grey. Faltering keys and soft strings underscore dark reports emanating from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her soft vocals come across in a deadpan manner, yet this record's tension stems from the sharp writing—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and blunt personal notes—along with unexpected maximalism. Few tracks recently possess stronger novelistic style than "Shelly", which describes the death of an animal and descends toward a petrol-laden reckoning, evoking literary pieces illuminated by glimpses of distorted cello. Anxious, quiet verses with resonating, strummed strings move into expansive refrains, and her vocals electronically altered to become a presence omniscient and sinister.
Listeners might already know Walton from her work as a music creator, DJ, and contributor to bands like Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect this diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" erupts with flourish, as if a string band caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo via a punishing, stunning, looping drum fill. Dense layers of audio, skillfully produced by a long-term partner, seem both rough and spiritual, while her morbid, enchanted thinking culminate on highlight "Lambs", which momentarily transforms into a swirling dance. "May your life never end in death," she bargains, exuding poignant gallows humor.
