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Within this song "Miss America", listeners find themselves in a lodging near JFK airport, as the musician receives a devastating update of her father's cancer discovery. The Sunderland-born performer had been traveling the US for the first time, playing alongside indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly grief casts a shadow, coloring everything in grey. Unsteady piano and hushed strings accompany dark reports emanating from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."

Walton's soft singing come across in a flat style, yet this record's intensity stems from the keen penmanship—blending stories, folksy sayings, and blunt personal notes—along with surprising maximalism. Not many songs this year possess stronger novelistic flair compared to "Shelly", which describes the death of a deer and descends toward a fuel-soaked reckoning, reminiscent of written works lit by flickers of distorted strings. Anxious, subdued sections featuring resonating, strummed strings transition into grand refrains, with her vocals digitally manipulated to become a presence omniscient and menacing.

Audiences may previously know Walton from her work as an electronic producer, DJ, and contributor to bands such as Caroline. Daughters' sonic turns draw on this varied background. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, like an ensemble taken by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the tempo via an intense, stunning, repeating percussion. Dense layers of audio, skillfully mixed by a long-term partner, seem both gnarly and spiritual, while Walton's morbid, enchanted thoughts culminate in standout "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a twirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton bargains, with poignant gallows humor.