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In this track "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a hotel room near JFK airport, as Jennifer Walton receives a heartbreaking update that her dad has illness discovery. The Sunderland-born performer was traveling the US for the first time, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, tinging everything in grey. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration accompany dark dispatches from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Her soft singing come across with a deadpan style, yet the record's intensity stems from the keen writing—blending stories, folksy sayings, and direct diary entries—coupled with unexpected maximalism. Not many tracks this year showcase more potent novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of a deer and spirals into a petrol-laden reckoning, reminiscent of written works lit by flickers of distorted strings. Tense, subdued verses with resonating, plucked strings move to expansive refrains, with her vocals digitally manipulated into something omniscient and menacing.

Audiences might already be familiar with the artist from her work as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on her varied background. The first track "Sometimes" erupts in fanfare, as if an ensemble caught by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the BPM via a punishing, stunning, repeating drum fill. Dense walls of sound, skillfully mixed by a longtime partner, feel at once gnarly and ethereal, and Walton's morbid, enchanted thoughts culminate in highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily transforms into a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, with heart-aching gallows humor.