The First Album "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Style
In the song "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a lodging near JFK airfield, as the musician learns a devastating update of her father's cancer diagnosis. This UK-raised performer had been touring the US for the first time, drumming with group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly grief casts a shadow, coloring everything with melancholy. Unsteady piano and hushed strings accompany dark reports emanating from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Walton's gentle vocals are delivered in a flat manner, while the album's intensity arises from the keen writing—blending fiction, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—along with unexpected rich textures. Not many tracks recently showcase stronger novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", which describes the death of an animal and descends into a petrol-laden confrontation, evoking written pieces illuminated by flickers of distorted strings. Tense, subdued verses with echoing, strummed strings transition into expansive refrains, with her voice digitally manipulated into a presence omniscient and sinister.
Audiences may previously be familiar with Walton from her work as a music creator, DJ, and contributor to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists reflect her diverse background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, as if an ensemble taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the tempo via an intense, beautiful, repeating percussion. Dense walls of sound, expertly mixed with a longtime partner, seem both gnarly and spiritual, and Walton's morbid, enchanted thinking peak on standout "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a swirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she bargains, with poignant dark comedy.
