Jennifer Walton's First Record "Daughters" Explores Grief and Style
Within this track "Miss America", listeners are placed in a hotel room near JFK airport, as the musician receives the devastating update that her dad has illness diagnosis. The UK-raised performer was traveling the US for the first time, drumming alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, tinging everything with melancholy. Faltering piano and hushed strings underscore dark dispatches from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Walton's gentle singing are delivered with a flat style, yet the record's tension stems from her sharp writing—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt personal notes—along with surprising maximalism. Not many tracks recently possess stronger storytelling flair than "Shelly", which depicts the killing of an animal and spirals into a fuel-soaked reckoning, reminiscent of literary pieces illuminated with flickers of distorted cello. Anxious, subdued sections with resonating, plucked guitar transition to expansive choruses, and Walton's vocals electronically altered into a presence all-knowing and menacing.
Audiences might previously know the artist as a music creator, disc jockey, and member to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists reflect her diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, as if an ensemble caught unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo with an intense, beautiful, looping percussion. Thick walls of sound, expertly produced with a longtime collaborator, feel at once gnarly and ethereal, while Walton's dark, magical thinking culminate on highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily transforms into a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, with poignant dark comedy.