NEW ALBUMS
SQUIRREL FLOWER
Planet (i)
Second album reveals a dark inner world
FULL TIME HOBBY
8/10
Ella Williams spent much of her debut album as Squirrel Flower in motion, underwater or on the road. What’s striking about the follow-up is how much of it is the opposite. “Flames And Flat Tires” was the soundtrack to a quarantine summer, locked down in the burning Bristol where she recorded the album with Ali Chant; “Hurt A Fly” finds her adopting the persona of a violent, gaslighting ex. The title is Williams’ name for the world in which her music is set and it’s one where disaster looms large – dark, evocative and minorkey rich; menacing live drums and corkscrew bass hanging heavy in the atmosphere.