Jennifer Walton's First Record "Daughters" Explores Sorrow and Elegance
Within this track "Miss America", audiences are placed inside a hotel room close to JFK airport, where the musician receives the heartbreaking news that her dad has cancer diagnosis. This Sunderland-born performer was touring America for the first time, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, coloring everything with melancholy. Unsteady piano and soft strings accompany gothic reports emanating from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her soft singing are delivered with a deadpan manner, yet the record's intensity arises from the keen writingâmixing fiction, traditional phrases, and direct diary entriesâcoupled with surprising maximalism. Few songs recently possess stronger storytelling flair compared to "Shelly", which depicts the killing of an animal and descends into a petrol-laden reckoning, reminiscent of literary pieces illuminated by flickers of distorted cello. Tense, quiet verses with resonating, plucked guitar transition into expansive refrains, with her vocals digitally manipulated into a presence omniscient and menacing.
Audiences may already be familiar with Walton from her work as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on this diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, like a string band caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the BPM via a punishing, stunning, looping drum fill. Dense layers of audio, expertly mixed by a long-term collaborator, seem both gnarly and ethereal, while her dark, enchanted thinking peak in standout "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a twirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton pleads, with heart-aching gallows humor.