Jennifer Walton's First Record "Daughters" Explores Grief and Elegance
Within this track "Miss America", listeners find themselves inside a hotel room near JFK airport, as the musician learns the devastating news that her dad has illness diagnosis. The Sunderland-born performer had been traveling the US for the first time, playing alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly sadness casts a shadow, tinging everything in grey. Unsteady keys and soft strings accompany gothic reports from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Her gentle singing are delivered in a deadpan style, while the record's intensity arises from the keen writing—mixing stories, folksy sayings, and direct diary entries—coupled with unexpected rich textures. Not many tracks this year possess stronger novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", which depicts the killing of a deer and spirals into a petrol-laden confrontation, evoking literary pieces illuminated with glimpses of distorted cello. Anxious, quiet sections featuring echoing, strummed guitar move to grand choruses, and her voice digitally manipulated to become something omniscient and sinister.
Listeners might already be familiar with the artist from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and contributor in groups like Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect her varied background. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with fanfare, like an ensemble taken unawares, while "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM with an intense, beautiful, looping drum fill. Dense layers of audio, expertly produced with a long-term partner, seem both gnarly and spiritual, and Walton's morbid, magical thinking peak in standout "Lambs", which briefly transforms into a twirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton pleads, exuding poignant gallows humor.