Jennifer Walton's Debut Album "Daughters" Delves Into Sorrow and Elegance
Within this song "Miss America", audiences are placed inside a hotel room close to JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton receives the devastating news that her dad has illness diagnosis. The UK-raised artist was touring the US for the first time, drumming with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and suddenly grief casts a shadow, tinging all with melancholy. Unsteady piano and soft orchestration underscore gothic reports from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Walton's gentle vocals are delivered with a flat manner, yet the album's tension arises from her sharp penmanship—mixing stories, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—coupled with unexpected rich textures. Not many tracks recently possess more potent novelistic style compared to "Shelly", a piece that depicts the killing of a deer and spirals toward a fuel-soaked confrontation, evoking literary works lit with flickers of warped cello. Anxious, quiet verses with echoing, strummed guitar transition to expansive refrains, and her voice electronically altered into something all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners may previously know Walton from her work as a music creator, DJ, and member in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect this diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, like a string band taken unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the BPM via a punishing, beautiful, looping drum fill. Dense walls of sound, expertly mixed with a longtime collaborator, feel at once rough and spiritual, while her dark, enchanted thinking peak on highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a swirling jig. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, with heart-aching dark comedy.
