Jennifer Walton's First Record "Daughters" Explores Grief and Elegance
In the track "Miss America", audiences are placed in a lodging near JFK airport, where Jennifer Walton receives the devastating news of her father's cancer discovery. This Sunderland-born artist was touring America on her initial visit, drumming with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly sadness takes over, coloring everything in grey. Faltering keys and hushed strings accompany gothic reports emanating from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Her gentle vocals are delivered with a flat style, while this album's intensity stems from her sharp penmanship—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—along with surprising maximalism. Few tracks recently possess stronger novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", which describes the death of a deer and spirals into a fuel-soaked reckoning, evoking written pieces illuminated with glimpses of warped strings. Tense, quiet verses with echoing, strummed guitar move to grand choruses, with Walton's vocals electronically altered into a presence all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners might already know the artist as an electronic producer, DJ, and member in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on this varied background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in flourish, as if a string band caught unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the BPM via an intense, stunning, repeating drum fill. Dense layers of audio, expertly mixed by a longtime partner, seem both rough and spiritual, while her dark, magical thoughts peak in standout "Lambs", a song that briefly transforms into a twirling dance. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, with heart-aching gallows humor.
