Squirrel Flower is the stage name and recording project of Chicago-based artist Ella Williams. Her fourth album ‘Tomorrow’s Fire’ was recorded in Asheville, N.C. and released last October.
Since then, Ella has been touring the record and made a stop at the Cat’s Cradle Back Room on Valentine’s Day of this year. Before the show, Ella stopped by WUNC to perform "Full Time Job" and "Alley Light" from the new record, and to chat with Brian Burns.
This is an excerpt of an edited transcript of that conversation. You can hear the full interview by clicking the LISTEN button at the top of this post.
Can you tell us a bit about what drew you to Asheville to record this record?
My friend Karly, who's in the band Wednesday, recommended the studio Drop of Sun to me several years ago. I sort of shelved it in the back of my mind. And then when I was planning and thinking about where I wanted to make my album, I hit them up. I talked to Alex [Farrar] who ended up being my co-producer. And it just felt really good. We felt very aligned.
The record opens with "I Don’t Use A Trash Can," which is a reimagining of the first song you recorded as Squirrel Flower. Tell us a bit about what drew you to go back to that one.
I started playing that again on tour a few years ago, sort of as a way to ground myself on the road and not lose sight of my past musical self. To me, that song represents just making music for the sake of music and nothing else kind of energy that I never want to lose sight of. So that sort of inspired me to revisit it. And I genuinely just love the song so much. When I play it live, I do live vocal looping. I do it four times. I basically sing the whole song four times in a row, looping over myself. And it's terrifying because it's so easy to mess up. But that's part of the fun, you know?
"Tomorrow's Fire" is out now on Polyvinyl Records.
