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Within this track "Miss America", listeners find themselves inside a lodging close to JFK airfield, where the musician learns the devastating update that her dad has illness diagnosis. This Sunderland-born artist was touring the US for the first time, drumming alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and suddenly sadness casts a shadow, tinging all in grey. Unsteady piano and soft orchestration underscore dark reports from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Her gentle singing are delivered with a deadpan manner, yet the album's intensity stems from her sharp writing—blending fiction, folksy sayings, and blunt diary entries—coupled with surprising maximalism. Few songs this year possess more potent novelistic flair than "Shelly", which describes the killing of a deer and descends into a petrol-laden confrontation, reminiscent of literary works illuminated with glimpses of warped cello. Tense, quiet verses with echoing, strummed strings move into expansive refrains, and Walton's vocals electronically altered into a presence omniscient and menacing.

Audiences may previously know the artist from her work as a music creator, disc jockey, and contributor to bands like Caroline. The album's sonic turns draw on her varied career. The opener "Sometimes" bursts in flourish, as if an ensemble taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the BPM with a punishing, stunning, repeating drum fill. Dense walls of sound, skillfully produced with a longtime partner, seem at once rough and ethereal, while Walton's morbid, enchanted thinking culminate on standout "Lambs", which momentarily transforms into a swirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, with poignant dark comedy.