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Within the track "Miss America", listeners are placed in a hotel room near JFK airport, as the musician receives a devastating news of her father's illness discovery. This UK-raised artist had been traveling America for the first time, drumming alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness casts a shadow, coloring all with melancholy. Faltering keys and hushed strings underscore dark dispatches emanating from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Her soft singing come across in a flat style, while the album's intensity arises from the keen writing—mixing stories, traditional phrases, and blunt personal notes—coupled with surprising maximalism. Few songs this year possess stronger storytelling style compared to "Shelly", a piece that describes the killing of a deer and spirals toward a petrol-laden reckoning, reminiscent of literary pieces illuminated with flickers of distorted cello. Tense, quiet sections featuring resonating, strummed strings transition into expansive refrains, with her vocals electronically altered into a presence all-knowing and menacing.

Audiences might already know Walton from her work as a music creator, DJ, and member to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists draw on this diverse background. The opener "Sometimes" erupts in fanfare, as if a string band taken by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the BPM via an intense, stunning, looping drum fill. Dense layers of audio, skillfully mixed by a long-term partner, seem both rough and ethereal, while her morbid, magical thoughts peak in standout "Lambs", which briefly transforms into a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," she pleads, exuding heart-aching gallows humor.