Jennifer Walton's First Record "Daughters" Explores Grief and Elegance
In the track "Miss America", audiences find themselves inside a lodging near JFK airfield, as the musician learns a heartbreaking news that her dad has illness discovery. This Sunderland-born artist had been traveling America on her initial visit, playing with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and suddenly grief casts a shadow, tinging everything with melancholy. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration underscore dark reports emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Her soft singing are delivered with a deadpan style, yet the record's tension arises from her sharp writing—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—along with unexpected maximalism. Not many tracks this year showcase more potent novelistic flair than "Shelly", which depicts the death of an animal and spirals into a petrol-laden reckoning, evoking written pieces lit by glimpses of distorted strings. Tense, subdued sections featuring echoing, plucked strings move into grand refrains, and her vocals digitally manipulated to become something all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners may previously be familiar with the artist as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor to bands like Caroline. Daughters' musical twists draw on this diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" erupts in fanfare, as if a string band taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically ups the BPM via an intense, beautiful, looping percussion. Thick layers of audio, expertly mixed by a long-term partner, seem at once gnarly and ethereal, while her dark, enchanted thoughts peak on standout "Lambs", which momentarily transforms into a twirling dance. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, exuding heart-aching gallows humor.