🔗 Share this article Jennifer Walton's First Album "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Style Within the track "Miss America", audiences are placed inside a hotel room near JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton learns the devastating update of her father's cancer discovery. This UK-raised artist had been traveling the US on her initial visit, playing alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, and suddenly grief casts a shadow, coloring all in grey. Faltering keys and soft orchestration accompany gothic reports emanating from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks." Her gentle singing are delivered with a flat style, while the album's intensity stems from her sharp penmanship—mixing stories, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—along with unexpected maximalism. Not many songs recently possess more potent storytelling style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the killing of an animal and descends into a fuel-soaked reckoning, evoking literary works lit by glimpses of warped cello. Tense, quiet sections featuring resonating, plucked strings move to grand choruses, and Walton's voice digitally manipulated into something all-knowing and menacing. Audiences may previously be familiar with Walton from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and member in groups like Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect this varied background. The first track "Sometimes" erupts with flourish, as if a string band taken by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the BPM via an intense, beautiful, repeating drum fill. Dense walls of sound, skillfully produced with a longtime partner, seem at once gnarly and ethereal, and Walton's morbid, magical thinking culminate on standout "Lambs", which briefly becomes a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, exuding poignant gallows humor.