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In the song "Miss America", listeners are placed in a lodging close to JFK airport, as the musician receives the devastating news of her father's cancer discovery. The UK-raised artist was traveling the US on her initial visit, playing with group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness takes over, coloring all with melancholy. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration accompany gothic dispatches emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."

Walton's gentle singing are delivered with a flat manner, while the record's tension stems from the sharp writing—mixing stories, traditional phrases, and blunt personal notes—along with unexpected maximalism. Not many songs this year possess more potent novelistic flair than "Shelly", which describes the death of a deer and spirals into a fuel-soaked confrontation, reminiscent of literary works lit by glimpses of warped strings. Anxious, quiet verses with echoing, plucked strings move into grand refrains, and her vocals electronically altered into something all-knowing and sinister.

Listeners might already know the artist as a music creator, disc jockey, and member to bands such as Caroline. The album's musical twists reflect her diverse background. The first track "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, as if a string band taken by surprise, while "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo with a punishing, beautiful, looping drum fill. Dense walls of sound, skillfully mixed with a long-term collaborator, feel at once gnarly and ethereal, and Walton's dark, magical thinking peak on highlight "Lambs", a song that momentarily becomes a twirling jig. "May your life never end in death," Walton bargains, exuding poignant dark comedy.