Jennifer Walton's Debut Album "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Style
In this track "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a lodging close to JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton learns the devastating news of her father's illness diagnosis. This Sunderland-born artist was traveling the US for the first time, playing alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly grief takes over, coloring all with melancholy. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration underscore gothic reports emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Her gentle singing are delivered with a flat style, yet this record's intensity arises from the keen writing—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct personal notes—coupled with unexpected maximalism. Not many songs recently possess more potent novelistic style than "Shelly", which describes the killing of an animal and spirals into a petrol-laden confrontation, reminiscent of literary pieces illuminated with flickers of distorted strings. Anxious, subdued verses with resonating, plucked guitar move to expansive choruses, and her voice digitally manipulated to become something omniscient and sinister.
Audiences might previously know Walton from her work as a music creator, DJ, and contributor in groups like Caroline. Daughters' sonic turns reflect her varied background. The first track "Sometimes" erupts in flourish, as if a string band caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the BPM via a punishing, beautiful, looping drum fill. Dense walls of sound, skillfully produced by a long-term partner, seem at once gnarly and spiritual, while her morbid, enchanted thinking peak in highlight "Lambs", a song that briefly transforms into a twirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton bargains, exuding heart-aching dark comedy.
