Jennifer Walton's Debut Album "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Elegance

In this track "Miss America", audiences are placed in a lodging close to JFK airfield, as Jennifer Walton receives the devastating news that her dad has cancer discovery. The UK-raised performer was touring the US on her initial visit, drumming alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, tinging everything in grey. Faltering piano and hushed strings accompany dark dispatches from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Walton's soft vocals come across with a flat manner, while the album's tension stems from the sharp penmanship—blending stories, traditional phrases, and blunt personal notes—along with surprising rich textures. Not many tracks recently possess stronger novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the death of a deer and spirals into a fuel-soaked confrontation, reminiscent of literary pieces lit with flickers of distorted strings. Anxious, subdued verses featuring echoing, plucked guitar move to expansive choruses, with Walton's vocals digitally manipulated into something all-knowing and menacing.

Listeners may previously know Walton as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and member to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists draw on her varied career. The first track "Sometimes" erupts in flourish, like a string band caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM via a punishing, beautiful, looping percussion. Thick walls of sound, skillfully produced with a long-term collaborator, seem both gnarly and spiritual, and Walton's morbid, enchanted thinking peak in highlight "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a twirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she pleads, exuding poignant gallows humor.

Katherine Hurst
Katherine Hurst

A professional blackjack strategist with over a decade of experience in casino gaming and player education.