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In this song "Miss America", listeners are placed in a hotel room close to JFK airport, as the musician receives a devastating update of her father's illness discovery. The Sunderland-born performer was traveling America for the first time, playing with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly grief casts a shadow, tinging all in grey. Unsteady keys and hushed strings accompany dark reports from the road: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."

Walton's gentle vocals are delivered with a flat style, while the record's tension arises from the sharp writing—mixing fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt diary entries—coupled with surprising rich textures. Not many songs this year showcase more potent storytelling style than "Shelly", a piece that describes the death of an animal and descends toward a fuel-soaked confrontation, evoking literary works lit with flickers of distorted cello. Anxious, subdued sections with resonating, plucked strings move into expansive refrains, with her vocals electronically altered into something all-knowing and sinister.

Listeners might previously know Walton as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor in groups such as Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect her diverse background. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with fanfare, as if a string band taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the tempo via a punishing, stunning, looping percussion. Thick walls of sound, expertly mixed by a longtime partner, feel at once rough and ethereal, while Walton's dark, magical thinking peak in highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a swirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton bargains, with heart-aching dark comedy.