If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Amaya Pena Last month we brought you "Reelin'," the new single from Squirrel Flower and mentioned that it had been three years since we last brought you new music from them. Ella Williams is making up for lost time, since just a few weeks later she's released not one but two new singles. "Not Me" stays in the same lane as "Reelin'" by being an earnest alt-rock song with some Americana sensibilities. It's a power ballad-esque track that's going to appeal to Springsteen's indie rock fans. The other new single, "Sick Tooth," is an under two-minute fuzz-filled indie rock track with lots of lo-fi distortion on just about everything. I get some serious early Sebadoh vibes from the latter single. Both are great, and have us wondering what the rest of Squirrel Flower's upcoming album will sound like. Ella Williams says of "Not Me": "This song came to me upon waking in Silver City, NM. I literally rolled...

Photo by Daniel Topete It's been almost three years since we brought you new music from Squirrel Flower, and now Ella Williams is back with a new single and an upcoming album. "Reelin" doesn't move more towards the artist's indie rock or folk sides. Instead, it resides square in the middle. It's laid back and relaxed, but with an underlying tension throughout. The song is also oddly hypnotizing. It kind of feels like it's trying to deceive you with relaxing while anxiety slowly builds up within you. This might all sound like it's an unpleasant song, but "Reelin" is truly great. It's a great re-introduction to Squirrel Flower, and we're thrilled to hear what's next. Ella Williams says of her latest single and video: “... the lyrics started as an art piece I made on an overdue Kansas Turnpike toll bill. This song is my ode to the push and pull of domesticity and unraveling. Leaving and getting reeled back in, over and over and over ...

Photo by Alexa Viscius Lately Squirrel Flower has been delving into a more rock based sound, and Ella Williams' latest single fits that sound perfectly. "Intheskatepark" could have been your standard folk-adjacent indie rock song, especially as Williams' vocals seem to be more along the lines of singer-songwriter style music than a hard rocker. But there's this fuzzed out guitar throughout the entire song that isn't quite grunge or punk, but does dance right along the line of those genres. It gives the song an indie rock and DIY feel we haven't typically heard with Squirrel Flower. Ella Williams says of her latest single: “I wrote this song in 2019 on a little toy synthesizer. To me, this song is everlasting summer — even as things change, seasons, feelings, relationships, you can still try and feel the perfect lightness of summer, of a new crush, of a pop riff. It's best listened to while biking around in the sunshine.” You can listen to "Inthesk...

Photo by Alexa Viscius Squirrel Flower (aka Chicago based artist Ella Williams) has been making indie folk for a while, but her latest singles show her moving in a more rock oriented direction. Last month's "Full Time Job" could best be described as neo-grunge. Her latest, "Alley Light," takes a step back a bit but is still a rock song. It has the anthemic feel of a Bruce Springsteen song backed by a wall of indie rock noise. It's quite removed from Williams' previous music, but it still fits right in with the albums that came before. It's a bit of an unexpected turn while still sounding like a song from Squirrel Flower. Ella Williams says of her new single: "This song is about the man in me, or a man who I love, or a man who is a stranger to me. The video references a neo-noir Chicago heist movie where they use this thermal metal contraption to cut into a safe. They run around the city making sparks fly and getting up to no good. I wanted to do...

Photo by Alexa Viscius It's pretty obvious we're enamored with the music of Squirrel Flower. Ella Williams' musical project has long been a favorite around here, and her style of indie folk meets indie rock is perfect for us. Her latest single, "Full Time Job," fits right into Squirrel Flowers' catalog, but this is decidedly a rock song. Once the guitars kick in, the song becomes much more neo-grunge than indie folk. It's an unexpected stylistic change, but one that makes perfect sense. "Full Time Job" rocks more than what we're used to from Williams while still sounding like a Squirrel Flower song. You can watch the video for "Full Time Job" below. Tomorrow's Fire is due out October 13 on Polyvinyl, and is available for pre-order here . For more on Squirrel Flower, check out the artist's website . Upcoming tour dates are below the video. Fri. July 21 - Lexington, KY @ The Burl * Wed. July 26 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway *...

Photo by Alexa Viscius I've been a fan of Squirrel Flower since first hearing "Red Shoulder" back in 2019, and I've been trying to see her live since then. Obviously a global pandemic made that quite difficult for a long time, but it seems like she's played the Boston area a bunch of times, but it just has never quite worked out for me. Once she announced a solo tour with Horse Jumper of Love was coming to Providence, and it worked out for my schedule, I knew I had to make it. NOVA ONE getting added as local support ended up being a huge bonus for me. NOVA ONE opened the evening with a set consisting of mostly new songs from their upcoming album due out on March 10. Roz Raskin made a comment that they were a bit nervous since it was new songs, but there was no reason to be. Breaking the evening's theme of solo performances (Raskin was joined by a second guitarist), songs like "crying" and "dangerous" held up with more well known ones. Seein...

Photo by Alexa Viscius Formerly of Boston and now residing in Chicago, Squirrel Flower (aka Ella Williams) has reworked a song from last year's Planet EP  for a new single. "Your Love is a Disaster" was a heartwrenching, stripped down track filled with hypnotic reverb. "Your Love" is a full band rocker. There is still the same haunting quality in Williams' vocals, but the newer version is driven by drums and indie rock guitars infused with just the slightest twang. It's rare for an artist to redo a song and make it bigger, but Squirrel Flower has taken a fantastic song and given it just a little more oomph.  Ella Williams says of her new single: “This song is the big version of itself. I started playing it live with a full band last year and it was so fun I had to record it. Jake put down the incredible solo and voila the song was complete.“ You can listen to "Your Love" below. The song is available as a single via Polyvinyl. For more on Squirr...

Photo by Jesse Ward Despite releasing the excellent Planet (i) earlier this year, Squirrel Flower is set to release a new EP next month. Planet consists of self-recorded demos of songs that didn't make it to the album, songs that were recorded for the album but left off, and a Bjork cover. Upon listening to "ruby at dawn," these songs are hardly leftovers. It may be a little stripped down compared to Planet (i) , but this new song has everything we love from Squirrel Flower. It's a beautiful and haunting song with roots in indie rock, folk, and pop. It's one of Squirrel Flower's songs that puts Ella Williams' vocals out front, for good reason. Williams is particularly captivating on "ruby at dawn" with her voice just building throughout the song. You can listen to "ruby at dawn" below. Planet is due out January 28 on Polyvinyl. You can pre-order/pre-save the EP here . For more on Squirrel Flower, check out the artist's website . Upc...