Squirrel Flower is the project of Boston-based songwriter, Ella Williams. Working in a similar realm to the likes of Mitski or Sharon Van Etten, Squirrel Flower’s music is emotionally raw, and musically intriguing. Waves of crashing guitar chords and steady pounding drums creating a base on top of which Ella’s stunning vocals can soar and cartwheel; and what a voice it is, rich, raw and dripping with deeply, human emotion .
Whilst it’s already out, Squirrel Flowers’ latest release, Contact Sports, arrived so late in the year it was almost unanimously missed a tragedy that simply must be put right. Contact Sports was a splendid record, six tracks that effortlessly blended sweet, hushed moments with raw, almost scuzzy guitar thrashing, sparse instrumentation that somehow sounds rich and full, and a central character who seemed hurt, but not broken, as if strengthened by the emotions life has brought out of her. On the stunning closing track Midwestern Clay, Ella sings, “I got no idea what’s keeping me in the air, but nothing’s keeping me on the ground”, if she gets the exposure her music so richly deserves, she looks destined to soar.
