🔗 Share this article

In the song "Miss America", audiences are placed in a lodging close to JFK airfield, where Jennifer Walton learns the heartbreaking news of her father's cancer diagnosis. This Sunderland-born artist was traveling the US for the first time, playing with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and abruptly grief casts a shadow, coloring everything with melancholy. Faltering keys and soft strings accompany dark dispatches emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Her gentle singing are delivered in a deadpan style, while the album's tension arises from her sharp penmanship—mixing fiction, folksy sayings, and direct diary entries—along with unexpected rich textures. Few tracks recently possess stronger storytelling flair than "Shelly", a piece that describes the killing of a deer and descends toward a fuel-soaked confrontation, reminiscent of written pieces lit with glimpses of distorted strings. Anxious, subdued sections featuring resonating, plucked guitar transition into expansive choruses, with her voice electronically altered to become a presence all-knowing and menacing.

Listeners might previously be familiar with Walton as an electronic producer, DJ, and contributor to bands such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on her diverse background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in fanfare, as if an ensemble taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the tempo via an intense, beautiful, repeating percussion. Dense layers of audio, skillfully mixed with a longtime collaborator, feel both gnarly and ethereal, while Walton's morbid, enchanted thinking culminate in standout "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a twirling dance. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, exuding heart-aching dark comedy.