Squirrel Flower, the moniker of Ella Williams, has announced the follow-up to her 2020 album I Was Born Swimming. Williams’ sophomore release as Squirrel Flower, titled Planet (i), is slated to arrive June 25 via Polyvinyl.
The news of Williams’ forthcoming album arrived with a new single, “Hurt a Fly,” and an accompanying music video. The video, directed by Ryan Schnackenberg, finds Williams thrashing around in the same sort of plastic bubble favored by The Flaming Lips as of late, all against the almost telephone-like processing of Williams’ breathy, brooding vocals. Lyrics like “Thought that I told you the storm ended, / And I’m never wrong / Took it too far again / Followed you home again” add to the dark atmosphere that the song’s urgent piano and fuzzy guitar help to create.
Williams elaborated on the song’s lyrics, and the creation of the music video, in a statement:
“Hurt a Fly” is me embodying a persona of gaslighting, narcissistic soft-boy type shit. The classic “sorry I acted violently, I’m not mad that you got upset at me, wanna hang out next week?” I wanted to see what it was like to be a character trying to skirt around accountability. It’s an angry and unhinged song, and for the video I wanted to be inside a bubble writhing around and trying to get out. A stranger filmed me practicing choreography at a public park, submitted it to a meme page making fun of “influencers,” and the video got 1,000,000 views, which in my mind is perfect thematically.
Watch the music video for “Hurt A Fly” below. Keep scrolling for Squirrel Flower’s recent Paste session, and the Planet (i) album artwork and tracklist. You can preorder the album here.
Planet (i) Album Artwork:
Planet (i) Tracklist:
01. I’ll Go Running
02. Hurt a Fly
03. Deluge In the South
04. Big Beast
05. Roadkill
06. Iowa 146
07. Pass
08. Flames and Flat Tires
09. To Be Forgotten
10. Desert Wildflowers
11. Night
12. Starshine
