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Within this song "Miss America", audiences are placed inside a lodging near JFK airfield, as the musician learns the heartbreaking news that her dad has illness discovery. This UK-raised artist had been touring America on her initial visit, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly grief takes over, tinging everything with melancholy. Faltering keys and soft strings accompany dark reports from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."

Walton's gentle singing come across in a flat style, yet the record's tension arises from the sharp penmanship—mixing stories, traditional phrases, and direct diary entries—along with surprising rich textures. Not many tracks this year possess more potent novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", which describes the killing of an animal and spirals into a fuel-soaked reckoning, evoking written works illuminated by glimpses of distorted strings. Tense, quiet verses with resonating, plucked guitar move to grand refrains, and Walton's voice digitally manipulated into a presence all-knowing and sinister.

Audiences may already be familiar with the artist from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and member to bands like Caroline. Daughters' musical twists reflect this diverse career. The first track "Sometimes" erupts in flourish, as if an ensemble caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM with a punishing, stunning, repeating percussion. Dense walls of sound, skillfully mixed by a longtime partner, feel at once rough and ethereal, and her dark, enchanted thoughts culminate on highlight "Lambs", a song that briefly transforms into a swirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton pleads, with poignant gallows humor.