Press Play: Squirrel Flower

Ella O’ Connor Williams is the Boston-bred singer-songwriter behind the moniker Squirrel Flower, and she’s adopted the name since the beginning of her days writing songs and poetry as a child. Squirrel Flower carefully crafts music that is ethereal, warm, and pouring with unreserved emotion.

On Williams’ first EP as Squirrel Flower, Contact Sports, she oscillates between pensive ballads and grinding rock choruses, inspired by all of her experiences on a midwest college campus. The opening track “Not Your Prey” is sultry, buzzing with a heavy dose of fuzzy guitar for a grainy feel. This tough exterior is counterposed by Williams’ fluttering, spectral soprano. Lead single “Conditions” is a wistful, melancholic groove. Williams sings with quivering authority, Don’t look at me like that / Like you’ll kill me / I can outrun you / And I’ll do it gracefully.

This Friday marked the release of the first full-length effort from Squirrel Flower, I Was Born Swimming. The album feels like it was specifically designed for late-night drives. The record maps out a riveting late-night voyage with moments that are quiet and tranquil as well as moments that are stormy and chaotic. The opening track “I-80” begins at a crawl before the instrumentals pick up as she gains speed and transitions into a full-blown sprint. “Red Shoulder” is an indie-rock power ballad that opens with a muddy guitar line that ebbs under Williams’ impassioned vocals before exploding into a huge, fuzzed-out riff.