🔗 Share this article

Within the track "Miss America", audiences find themselves inside a lodging close to JFK airfield, where the musician receives the devastating news of her father's illness diagnosis. This UK-raised performer had been touring the US for the first time, drumming with group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly grief takes over, tinging everything in grey. Faltering keys and soft strings underscore gothic reports from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Her gentle vocals come across with a deadpan style, while the album's intensity arises from the sharp penmanship—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and direct diary entries—along with unexpected maximalism. Few tracks recently possess stronger storytelling flair than "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of a deer and descends toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, reminiscent of written pieces illuminated with glimpses of warped cello. Tense, subdued sections with resonating, strummed guitar move into grand choruses, with Walton's vocals electronically altered to become a presence all-knowing and menacing.

Audiences may already know Walton from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and member in groups like Caroline. Daughters' sonic turns reflect this varied background. The opener "Sometimes" erupts in fanfare, as if a string band caught by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the tempo via an intense, stunning, repeating percussion. Dense layers of audio, skillfully mixed with a longtime partner, seem at once rough and ethereal, and her morbid, magical thoughts culminate on highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a twirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she pleads, exuding heart-aching gallows humor.