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In this track "Miss America", listeners find themselves in a hotel room close to JFK airfield, where Jennifer Walton learns a devastating update of her father's illness discovery. This Sunderland-born performer had been touring America for the first time, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly grief takes over, tinging all in grey. Unsteady piano and soft orchestration accompany gothic dispatches emanating from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Walton's soft singing come across with a flat style, while this record's intensity stems from the keen penmanship—blending fiction, folksy sayings, and blunt personal notes—along with surprising maximalism. Not many songs recently showcase stronger novelistic style than "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of an animal and spirals into a fuel-soaked reckoning, evoking written works illuminated with glimpses of distorted strings. Anxious, quiet verses with resonating, plucked strings move into expansive refrains, with Walton's vocals digitally manipulated into something all-knowing and menacing.

Audiences might previously be familiar with the artist as a music creator, DJ, and contributor to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' musical twists reflect this diverse background. The opener "Sometimes" erupts in fanfare, as if a string band caught by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the BPM via a punishing, stunning, repeating percussion. Thick walls of sound, expertly produced with a longtime partner, feel at once gnarly and spiritual, and Walton's morbid, magical thoughts peak on standout "Lambs", a song that briefly transforms into a swirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, exuding poignant dark comedy.