Squirrel Flower

Under the Squirrel Flower moniker, Ella O’Connor Williams, a singer and songwriter raised in Boston, crafts introspective and somber indie rock tracks that fuse richly layered electric guitar textures with her resonant and commanding vocals. Following two self-released projects, her first effort on a label arrived in 2020 as I Was Born Swimming. The disaster-themed Planet (i) came out the next year as its successor. Issued toward the end of 2023, Tomorrow's Fire marked a sharper turn toward rock, featuring gritty textures and a warm, ensemble-driven approach.

Williams grew up immersed in music within Boston, where her father performed as a touring jazz musician and her classically trained grandparents resided in an artist co-op located in upstate New York. Her abilities surfaced early through participation in the Boston Children's Chorus, along with studies in guitar and music theory, before she dove into the local D.I.Y. community as a teenager. The Squirrel Flower name originated in her youth, and she later adopted it for her initial solo releases. While studying at college in Iowa, she put out the eight-track Early Winter Songs from Middle America, a sparse and evocative collection built mainly around vocals and her delicate electric guitar. Greater attention arrived the subsequent year via Contact Sports, another eight-song collection marked by similar solitude, which led to a deal with the Midwestern indie Polyvinyl Records. She headed to New York City to collaborate with producer Gabe Wax (Adrianne Lenker, Palehound) on a denser yet airy sound for her debut full-length I Was Born Swimming, issued by Polyvinyl in January 2020. Later in 2020, Williams journeyed to England for sessions with Bristol-based producer Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey). Planet (i), out in June 2021, delivered a sweeping, near-apocalyptic atmosphere centered on themes of catastrophe and unease. For the following album, she partnered with Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Snail Mail) in Asheville, North Carolina. Shedding earlier folk elements, the sessions yielded material grounded in driving, distorted indie rock. The title Tomorrow's Fire draws from a novel penned by her great-great grandfather, and the record appeared in October 2023.