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Within this song "Miss America", listeners are placed inside a lodging close to JFK airport, as the musician receives a devastating update of her father's cancer discovery. The UK-raised artist had been traveling America for the first time, playing alongside group Kero Kero Bonito, when suddenly sadness casts a shadow, tinging everything with melancholy. Faltering piano and soft strings accompany dark reports emanating from the road: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Shopping centers, illicit trades, anxious moments."

Walton's gentle singing are delivered in a deadpan style, yet the record's tension stems from her keen penmanship—blending fiction, folksy sayings, and blunt diary entries—along with surprising rich textures. Not many tracks recently showcase stronger novelistic style compared to "Shelly", which depicts the death of a deer and spirals into a petrol-laden reckoning, evoking written works lit with glimpses of warped strings. Tense, subdued sections featuring resonating, strummed strings move into grand refrains, with Walton's vocals digitally manipulated to become a presence all-knowing and sinister.

Audiences may already be familiar with Walton from her work as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor in groups like Caroline. The album's sonic turns draw on her varied career. The opener "Sometimes" erupts with flourish, as if a string band caught by surprise, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically increases the tempo via a punishing, beautiful, looping percussion. Dense walls of sound, expertly produced by a longtime partner, seem at once rough and spiritual, and her morbid, magical thoughts culminate in highlight "Lambs", which briefly transforms into a twirling jig. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," Walton bargains, exuding poignant gallows humor.