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Within this song "Miss America", listeners find themselves inside a lodging close to JFK airfield, as the musician receives the devastating update that her dad has illness discovery. The Sunderland-born artist was traveling the US for the first time, drumming with indie band Kero Kero Bonito, and abruptly sadness casts a shadow, coloring all with melancholy. Faltering piano and hushed orchestration underscore gothic dispatches from the tour van: "Rural scenes and crumbling homes / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Walton's gentle singing are delivered with a flat manner, while the album's tension arises from the keen writing—blending stories, folksy sayings, and direct diary entries—along with surprising maximalism. Not many tracks this year showcase stronger novelistic style than "Shelly", a piece that describes the killing of an animal and descends toward a petrol-laden reckoning, reminiscent of written pieces illuminated by flickers of warped cello. Tense, quiet sections with echoing, strummed strings move into grand refrains, and Walton's vocals digitally manipulated to become something omniscient and sinister.

Audiences may previously be familiar with Walton from her work as a music creator, DJ, and member to bands like Caroline. The album's musical twists draw on her varied career. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with fanfare, as if a string band caught unawares, while "Born Again Backwards" drastically increases the tempo via a punishing, stunning, repeating percussion. Thick layers of audio, skillfully produced by a long-term partner, seem both rough and spiritual, while her morbid, enchanted thinking peak in standout "Lambs", a song that briefly becomes a swirling dance. "May your life never end in death," Walton pleads, with poignant gallows humor.