Jennifer Walton's First Album "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Elegance
Within this track "Miss America", audiences are placed inside a lodging close to JFK airfield, as the musician receives the devastating news that her dad has illness diagnosis. The Sunderland-born performer had been traveling America for the first time, drumming alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and abruptly grief takes over, coloring everything with melancholy. Faltering piano and hushed strings underscore gothic reports emanating from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Walton's gentle singing are delivered in a flat manner, while this record's intensity arises from the sharp penmanship—blending fiction, folksy sayings, and direct diary entries—along with surprising maximalism. Not many songs this year possess more potent novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", which describes the death of a deer and spirals toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, reminiscent of written works illuminated by glimpses of distorted strings. Anxious, quiet sections featuring resonating, strummed guitar transition into grand refrains, with her vocals digitally manipulated into something all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners may already be familiar with Walton as a music creator, disc jockey, and contributor to bands like Caroline. Daughters' musical twists draw on this diverse background. The first track "Sometimes" erupts with fanfare, like an ensemble caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the BPM with a punishing, beautiful, looping percussion. Dense layers of audio, expertly mixed with a longtime collaborator, feel at once rough and spiritual, while her dark, magical thinking culminate in highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily transforms into a twirling dance. "May your life never end in death," she bargains, exuding poignant dark comedy.
