🔗 Share this article

Within this track "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a hotel room close to JFK airport, where the musician receives a devastating news of her father's cancer discovery. This UK-raised performer had been traveling America for the first time, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly grief takes over, tinging everything in grey. Faltering piano and hushed orchestration underscore dark reports emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Walton's gentle singing are delivered in a flat manner, while the record's intensity arises from her keen writing—blending fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—along with unexpected rich textures. Not many songs this year showcase more potent storytelling style than "Shelly", which describes the killing of an animal and descends toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, reminiscent of literary pieces lit by glimpses of warped strings. Anxious, subdued sections with resonating, strummed guitar move to expansive refrains, and Walton's vocals digitally manipulated into a presence omniscient and menacing.

Audiences might already know the artist as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and member to bands such as Caroline. The album's sonic turns reflect her varied background. The opener "Sometimes" erupts in flourish, as if an ensemble caught unawares, while "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo via an intense, stunning, looping percussion. Dense walls of sound, expertly mixed by a longtime partner, seem both gnarly and spiritual, while her dark, magical thoughts peak on standout "Lambs", which briefly becomes a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton pleads, with poignant dark comedy.