In the track "Miss America", listeners find themselves inside a hotel room near JFK airport, as the musician receives the devastating update that her dad has cancer discovery. The UK-raised artist had been traveling the US for the first time, drumming with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, coloring all with melancholy. Faltering keys and hushed orchestration accompany gothic reports from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."
Walton's gentle vocals come across with a deadpan style, yet the album's intensity stems from her keen penmanship—blending stories, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—coupled with surprising maximalism. Not many songs recently possess more potent novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the death of a deer and spirals into a petrol-laden reckoning, evoking written works illuminated with flickers of distorted cello. Tense, quiet verses featuring resonating, plucked guitar move to expansive choruses, and Walton's voice electronically altered to become something all-knowing and menacing.
Listeners might already be familiar with Walton as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor to bands like Caroline. Daughters' sonic turns draw on this diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" erupts in flourish, like a string band caught by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the tempo via a punishing, beautiful, repeating drum fill. Thick walls of sound, expertly mixed with a longtime partner, seem at once rough and spiritual, and her dark, enchanted thinking peak on standout "Lambs", which briefly becomes a swirling jig. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, exuding heart-aching dark comedy.
