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In the track "Miss America", listeners find themselves in a hotel room near JFK airport, as Jennifer Walton learns a heartbreaking news of her father's illness diagnosis. This Sunderland-born artist was traveling the US on her initial visit, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, coloring all in grey. Faltering piano and soft strings underscore dark reports from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Her soft vocals come across in a flat manner, while this album's tension stems from the keen writing—mixing stories, traditional phrases, and blunt personal notes—along with unexpected rich textures. Not many tracks recently possess stronger novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", which depicts the killing of an animal and descends into a petrol-laden confrontation, reminiscent of written works illuminated with glimpses of distorted cello. Anxious, quiet sections with resonating, plucked strings move to grand refrains, and Walton's vocals digitally manipulated into something all-knowing and menacing.

Audiences might previously be familiar with Walton from her work as an electronic producer, DJ, and member in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on her varied career. The opener "Sometimes" erupts with flourish, as if a string band taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM via an intense, beautiful, repeating drum fill. Thick walls of sound, expertly mixed with a long-term partner, seem at once gnarly and spiritual, and her dark, magical thinking peak in highlight "Lambs", which momentarily becomes a swirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton bargains, exuding poignant gallows humor.